Epilogue

The final chapter is anchored by a poem from Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, titled “Touch.” Johnson argues that the poem exemplifies a central tension of these narratives by Black, queer, Southern women: the homophobia of the South and these women’s commitment to making the region more hospitable for Black, queer life. He discusses the work of Black feminist scholars Evelynn Hammonds, Darlene Clark Hine, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham in publishing scholarship that rethinks strategies of survival, and stresses that Black. Queer. Southern. Women. follows in this intellectual vein. Finally, Johnson also offers a brief reflection on his subject position as a cisgender, Black, gay, middle-class academic from the South and the ways that this positionality shaped the work.

I’m Alright with Who I Am

In this chapter, “Ida Mae” narrates her upbringing in Odenville, Alabama. She shares stories of experiencing childhood in a segregated town, being highly involved in the church, spending time at a local, Black, gay bar, and her family’s various reactions to her sexuality. In her narrative, she also stresses the importance of cross-dressing and experimenting with her gender presentation more often once she enrolled in college.

I’m Just a Black Woman in America

In this chapter, Lori Wilson discusses her upbringing in Houston, Texas. She narrates her struggles with teenage pregnancy, an early marriage, dropping out of high school, addiction, imprisonment, and probation. In her narrative, she stresses the importance of healing and finding ways to cultivate relationships with her child and grandchildren.

I’m Sweet on You

This chapter probes the narrators’ deep and enduring emotional and romantic attachments to other women, primarily by focusing on stories of dating and marriage. Johnson’s interlocutors recall: stories of how they met their partners, memories of particular dates, their family’s responses to their relationships, and, for some of them, how and when they decided to pursue marriage. Importantly, Johnson notes that all of these interviews took place before the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage across the nation in 2015. Despite the legal limits of partnership in Southern states, several of these women chose to remain in the region. Their choices reflect the need to think expansively about the possibilities for queer life for Black women in the South.

Walk like a Man, Talk like a Woman

This chapter upends the myth that all queer women of color are butch, or masculine-presenting. Johnson’s interlocutors reveal that gender presentation and expression for women in the South have historically been much more fluid and malleable than is commonly assumed. Moreover, the women expose the inability of terms like ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine” to fully capture how they play with gender.

Introduction

This chapter introduces readers to the book’s research questions, interventions, intellectual foundations, and Johnson’s narrators. Here, Johnson explains the personal and intellectual impetuses for creating the work. He discusses how the book uses oral history to demonstrate Black, queer, Southern women’s constructions of their identities and casts storytelling as the primary mode through which his narrators theorize their lives. Most importantly, Johnson argues for the importance of studying sexuality in ways that move beyond identity and, instead, account for the polyvalent nature of desire. Lastly, this part of the book situates Black. Queer. Southern. Women.: An Oral History as the companion text to Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South.

I Found God in Myself and I Loved Her Fiercely

This chapter explores the role that religion and spirituality have played in the lives of Black, queer, Southern women. Here, Johnson interrogates how these women developed an alternative consciousness of spirituality, particularly when institutionalized religious spaces failed to interpret texts in progressive ways. Some leave these spaces entirely and delve into spiritual practices like Yoruba, others find subversive ways to transgress the mores and conventions of these rigid spaces, and still others find creative and dynamic ways to employ a blend of these strategies.

It’s Thick Here

This chapter is primarily focused on how Black, queer, Southern women experience and navigate intersecting oppressions throughout their lives. Johnson pushes past the “holy trinity” of structural oppression—race, class, and gender—to consider how sexuality and region complicate this theoretical formation. In this section, the narrators shed light on the various ways that they have responded to the confluence of these forces, from using drugs and alcohol to having children to attending college.

Being Human Is a Dangerous Thing

Johnson’s appreciation for resilience and forgiveness are evident in this chapter. Cherry Hussain recounts her life story, including her upbringing in Daytona Beach, Florida, her involvement in church as a young person, her first marriage to a man, and her relationship with her wife, Pat. She also discusses her attachment to the term “dyke,” as opposed to lesbian, and gives a brief history of how she began identifying with the label.

A Taste of Honey

In this chapter, Johnson’s interlocutors share stories about sexual awakenings, sexual encounters, sexual desire, and sexual violence. Since their narratives move between and beyond pleasure and pain, the chapter is divided into three sections—the first focuses on sexual awakenings and the narrators’ various emotional attachments to sex with other women; the second centers women’s sexual behaviors and practices; and the third focuses squarely on these women’s painful experiences of sexual violence, often in adolescence and at the hands of male relatives. Importantly, these narrators stress that their sexual desires have not developed in response to these violent experiences, illustrating that their articulation of same-sex attraction is conscious and affirmative.