Books, Articles, Films, & Shows by Black and Black Queer Folks
* indicates that the book or movie is not free. I have linked these to the book’s original publisher; however, consider buying from the list of Black-owned bookstores included at the bottom of this guide.
Books and Essays by Black and Queer Authors and Scholars
Audre Lorde:
Sister Outsider — a book of essays and speeches
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name — Lorde’s autobiography as a Black lesbian
James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time — book of two essays
Notes of a Native Son — book of essays
Giovanni’s Room — gay novel, can be conflated to intersection of race + sexuality
How to Cool It — a 1968 Esquire interview
bell hooks
Feminism is for Everybody — a collection of political essays
Black Looks: Race and Representation — a collection of essays on Black representation
Key chapters:
Eating the Other
Selling Hot Pussy
Reconstructing Black Masculinity
Nikki Giovanni
Barbara Smith
Alice Walker
The Color Purple — Black lesbian novel
Randall Kenan
A Visitation of Spirits* — Magic realist novel on being Black and gay in a southern community
Roxane Gay
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body* — a memoir of body, sexuality, and race
Bad Feminist: Essays* — a collection of political essays
Danez Smith
Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems* — collection of poems on institutional racism, black queer sexuality, HIV/AIDS, and more
Lorraine Hansbery
A Raisin in the Sun — a play about a Black family’s experiences in south Chicago
Staceyann Chin
The Other Side of Paradise* — a lesbian memoir
Saeed Jones
How We Fight for Our Lives* — a gay, coming-of-age memoir
Janet Mock
Redefining Realness* — a trans memoir
Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology — collection of essays on the emergence of black queer studies
Key chapters:
Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?, by Cathy J. Cohen
Race-ing Homonormativity: Citizenship, Sociology, and Gay Identity, by Roderick A. Ferguson
Beyond the Closet as Raceless Paradigm, by Marlon B. Ross
“Joining the Lesbians”: Cinematic Regimes of Black Lesbian Visibility, by Kara Keeling
But Some of Us are Brave Lesbians: The Absence of Black Lesbian Fiction, by Jewelle Gomez
Black Queer Films, Documentaries, and Series by Black Filmmakers
Black is… Black Ain’t — a Marlon Riggs documentary about intersection of Blackness, queerness, and HIV/AIDS; watch on Kanopy (university login) or rent on Vimeo*
Tongues Untied — a Marlon Riggs documentary about marginalization of Black gay men; watch on Kanopy (university login) or rent on Vimeo*
I Am Not Your Negro* — a documentary on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House
Pariah* — a lesbian coming-of-age film by Dee Rees
Rafiki* — a lesbian film by Wanuri Kahiu that takes place in Kenya
Bessie — a film about Bessie Smith by Dee Rees
The Watermelon Woman — a lesbian film by Cheryl Dunye
Moonlight — a gay film by Barry Jenkins
Dear White People — a 2014 film (linked here*) and current TV series (linked here) centering a Black community in a prestigious university; the series features two Black and queer characters
Other Essential Resources to Read and Watch to Get Educated
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander — a must read on institutional racism and mass incarceration
13th by Ava Duvernay — a must watch on institutional racism and mass incarceration
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins — collection of political and feminist essays
Making All Black Lives Matter* by Barbara Ransby — a book on the BLM movement and its connection to Black feminist ideology, both accessible and thorough
Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis — collection of essays on intersection of race with the women’s liberation movement
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison — a must read novel on a Black girl’s life in Ohio
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates — a non-fiction book on contemporary American racism
Citizen* by Claudia Rankine — a book-length poem on racial microaggressions and language
The Hate U Give — young adult novel by Angie Thomas inspired by the police shooting of Oscar Grant; 2018 film by George Tillman Jr.
How to Be an Antiracist* by Ibram X. Kendi — non-fiction novel on how to be actively anti-racist
How We Get Free by Keenga-Yamahtta Taylor, a text on Black Feminism & the Combahee River Collective
Black-owned Bookstores to Buy From
Sourced from this Instagram post and this Instagram post
Semicolon (Chicago, IL)
Lushena Books (Chicago, IL)
Brain Lair Books (South Bend, IN)
Afriware Books (Maywood, IL)
Detroit Book City (Detroit, MI)
Source Booksellers (Detroit, MI)
Mahogany Books (Washington, DC)
Loyalty Bookstore (Washington, DC and Silver Spring, MD)
Everyone’s Place (Baltimore, MD)
Harambee Books and Artworks (Alexandria, VA)
Uncle Bobbies (Philadelphia, PA)
Hakim’s Bookstore (Philadelphia, PA)
Harriett’s Bookshop (Philadelphia, PA)
The Black Reserve Bookstore (Lansdale, PA)
Eso Won Books (Los Angeles, CA)
The Lit Bar (Bronx, NY)
Cafe con Libros (Brooklyn, NY)
Revolution Books (New York, NY)
Sisters Uptown Bookstore (New York, NY)
Frugal Bookstore (Roxbury, MA)
Underground Books (Carrollton, GA)
Medu Bookstore (Atlanta, GA)
For Keeps (Atlanta GA)
Turning Page Bookshop (Goose Greek, SC)
Dare Books (Longwood, FL)
Willa’s Books (Kansas City, MO)
MeJah Books and Crafts (Claymont, DE)
Smith and Hannon Bookstore (Cincinnati, OH)
Mocha Books (Tulsa, OK)
The Dock Bookshop (Fort Worth, TX)