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Cheryl L. Clarke (born
Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, May 16, 1947) is an American lesbian poet, essayist, educator, and
Black feminist Black feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses on the African-American woman's experiences and recognizes the intersectionality of racism and sexism.  Black feminism philosophy centers on the idea that "Black women are inherently va ...
community activist. Her scholarship focuses on African-American women's literature, black lesbian feminism, and the
Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African Americans, African-American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The mov ...
in the United States. For more than 40 years, Clarke was founding Director of Diverse Community Affairs and Lesbian/Gay Concerns, later the Office of Social Justice Education and LBT Communities, at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
. She maintains a teaching affiliation with the Graduate Faculty of the Department of Women and Gender Studies, though retired. In addition, Clarke serves on the board of the Newark Pride Alliance.


Early life and education

The daughter of James Sheridan Clarke, a
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
veteran, and Edna Clarke, Cheryl Clarke was born and raised in Washington, D.C. at the height of the American civil rights movement, one of four sisters and a brother. The family was Catholic, descended from freed slaves who had emigrated to the nation's capitol after the Civil War. Both parents were civil servants and registered Democrats. When she was 13 years old, Clarke crossed a picket line of African-American activists protesting
segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...
at Woolworth's on 14th Street. When she came home, her mother, a staunch union member, told her never to cross a picket line again, educating her about the role of
direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...
in the civil rights movement. At 16, Clarke was allowed by her parents to attend the 1963
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington) was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...
with them. The day before the march, on her way downtown to acquire information about the route, she encountered
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...
, who would deliver his "
I Have a Dream "I Have a Dream" is a Public speaking, public speech that was delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. In the speech, Kin ...
" speech the next day. Clarke attended parochial schools in the
District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
, and matriculated at
Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...
in 1965. She received a B.A. in English literature in 1969. Subsequently, she enrolled at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
, completing a
Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
in 1974, a
Master of Social Work The Master of Social Work (MSW) is a master's degree in the field of social work. It is a professional degree with specializations compared to Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). MSW promotes macro-, mezzo- and micro-aspects of professional social work ...
in 1980, and a PhD in 2000. For much of this time, she also worked for Rutgers, beginning her employment there in 1970 in the Urban University Program. In 1992, she was the founding Director of Diverse Community Affairs and Lesbian/Gay Concerns, which later became the Office for Social Justice Education and LGBT Communities. She served as the dean of students of the Livingston Campus at Rutgers University from 2010 to 2013, when she retired.


Writing

Clarke is the author of five collections of poetry: ''Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women'' (originally self-published in 1981 and distributed by Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in 1982); for Firebrand Books, ''Living as a Lesbian'' (1986), ''Humid Pitch'' (1989), and ''Experimental Love'' (1993); and for Word Works, ''By My Precise Haircut'' (2016). She also published ''After Mecca — Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement'' (Rutgers University Press, 2005), and ''Days of Good Looks: Prose and Poetry, 1980–2005'' (Carroll & Graf Publishing, 2006), a collection that represented 25 years of published writing. Clarke served on the editorial collective of '' Conditions'', an early lesbian publication, and has been published in numerous anthologies, journals, magazines, and newspapers, including '' Conditions'', '' This Bridge Called My Back'', '' Home Girls'', ''
The Black Scholar ''The Black Scholar'' (''TBS'') is a journal founded in California, in 1969, by Robert Chrisman, Nathan Hare, and Allan Ross. It is the third oldest Black studies journal in the US, after the NAACP’s ''The Crisis'' (founded in 1910) and the ' ...
'', ''
The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ''T ...
'', ''Belles Lettres'', and '' Gay Community News''. Clarke's articles, "Lesbianism: An Act of Resistance" and "The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community", published in ''This Bridge Called My Back'' and ''Home Girls'', respectively, are often included in
women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
,
Black studies Black studies or Africana studies (with nationally specific terms, such as African American studies and Black Canadian studies), is an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of ...
, and
English studies English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a dis ...
curricula.


"Lesbianism: an Act of Resistance" (1981)

Cheryl Clarke is the author of "Lesbianism: an Act of Resistance", originally published in 1981 in the feminist anthology ''This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color''. The essay's main intervention is to expand the categories of who counts as a lesbian and what lesbianism is. Rather than defining a lesbian only as a woman who has sex with other women, Clarke insists that "there is no one kind of lesbian, no one kind of lesbian behavior, and no one kind of lesbian relationship." Thinking of "lesbian" as a continuum, she makes space for women who have sexual and emotional relationships with women but identify with other labels. In the same way, she redefines lesbianism "as an ideological, political, and philosophical means of liberation of all women from heterosexual tyranny." Because she imagines lesbianism to be in opposition to male tyranny and coerced heterosexuality, she defines it as resistance, no matter how a woman is actually practicing it in her personal life.


"The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community" (1983)

The 1983 book '' Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology'' includes one of Clarke's essays, titled "The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community". This essay is a literature critique, including critiques of LeRoi Jones's ''Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note'' (1961), Michele Wallace's ''Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman'' (1979), and
bell hooks Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952 – December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Be ...
' ''
Ain't I a Woman "Ain't I a Woman?" is a speech, generally considered to have been delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth (1797–1883), born into slavery in the state of New York (state), New York. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she becam ...
'' (1981). Clarke argues that homophobia is not unique to the Black community, but is indicative of a larger homophobic culture. This piece is directed at Black men, who Clarke says perpetuate homophobia and the white supremacist, anti-Black concepts of gender and sexuality as a means of becoming more palatable to white America. She specifically critiques the "intellectual Black man" for acting as the savior that will bring liberation to the Black community by way of perpetuating homophobia to condemn Black lesbians as detrimental to the Black Family and Black nationhood. Additionally, Clarke asserts that intellectual Black women have excluded Black lesbians from their scholarship and subtly deny the womanhood of Black lesbians—"homophobia by omission". The oppression and exclusion of Black lesbian women from the Black liberation movement, according to Clarke, is counter-revolutionary and only by addressing and eliminating homophobia can the Black community find liberation. Clarke concludes that Black people must be committed to eliminating homophobia in the community by engaging in discussion with advocates for gay and lesbian liberation, getting educated about gay and lesbian politics, confronting internal and external homophobic attitudes, and understanding how these attitudes prevent total liberation.


The Black Arts Movement

The
Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African Americans, African-American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The mov ...
took place between 1965 and 1975, in close connection with the Black power movement, and sought to reimagine Western politics and cultural aesthetics. Emerging from this movement was also the inclusion of women as well as queer artists, partially a result of critiques of the movement and prominent figures, including Clarke, highlighting the artistic contributions of these groups. In her work ''After Mecca'', Clarke showcases women poets and writers and put queer characters at the center of her revolutionary fiction stories. Like the Black Arts Movement, much of Clarke's work in literature and in activism revolves around the idea of visibility, but with more engagement with queer Black womanhood.


Community

Clarke has served on a number of boards and community organizations, including New York Women Against Rape (1985), New Jersey Women and AIDS Network, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the
CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...
, and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Newark Pride Alliance, a
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
dedicated to LGBTQ advocacy and programming in Newark. Clarke lives in
Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous
. With her life partner, Barbara Balliet, she is co-owner of Bleinheim Hill Books, a bookstore in Hobart.


Hobart Festival of Women Writers

The Hobart Festival of Women Writers was founded in 2013 by Clarke and her sister
Breena Clarke Breena Clarke is an African-American scholar and writer of fiction, including an award-winning debut novel '' River, Cross My Heart'' (1999). She is the younger sister of poet, essayist, and activist Cheryl Clarke, with whom she organizes the Hob ...
, centering on published women writers. Each September, this organization offers reading and writing workshops, art exhibitions, and discussion panels.


Works

* ''Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women'' (1983) * ''Living as a Lesbian'' (1986) * ''Humid Pitch'' (1989) * ''Experimental Love'' (1993) * ''By My Precise Haircut'' (2016) *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Cheryl 1947 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American LGBTQ people African-American feminists African-American women writers African-American writers American feminists American lesbian writers American women academics Feminist studies scholars Lesbian academics Lesbian feminists African-American LGBTQ people Rutgers University faculty