"Becoming Visible: The First Black Lesbian Conference" was held at The Women's Building in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, from October 17 to 19, 1980. It has been credited as the first conference for

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

women.Kyper, John. "Black Lesbians Meet in October." ''Coming Up: A Calendar of Events'' 1 (Oct. 1980): 1. Web.

History

Before the "First Black Lesbian conference", several important historical events took place in the United States, which affected African Americans and lesbian women and their ability to disclose their

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

. These events included the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

and the civil rights movement which ultimately increased the importance of the Black lesbian conference. The impacts of the Stonewall riots and the Civil Rights Movement created an awareness of the enormous amount of oppression surrounding the black lesbian community. The Civil Rights Movement was particularly important as the sexual identity of lesbian participants remained invisible throughout the movement.Haggerty, George, and Bonnie Zimmerman. ''Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures''. Taylor & Francis, 2003. Print. The 1969 Stonewall Rebellion ultimately affected the visibility of African American lesbians and their struggle with oppression while emerging in the feminist movement. The "First Black Lesbian Conference" was an outgrowth from the First National Third World Lesbian and Gay Conference by the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, which was held in 1979 in

Washington, DC 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 ...

. Although there had been previous conferences supporting both

s and

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

s, the “First Black Lesbian Conference” was the first in the United States with the mission to hold a conference with the sole focus of supporting African-American lesbians.Daniels, Gabrielle. “First Black Lesbian Conference.” ''Off Our Backs'' 10.11 (1980): 4–8. Print. In the decades leading to the conference, it was not uncommon for other various organizations to push African-American lesbian women out, as a result of the lack of knowledge surrounding diversity of sexual orientation and race.

Agenda

The "First Black Lesbian Conference" was a two-day event, which was open to all African-American lesbian women, and was held at The Women's Building in

. The event was attended by over 200 women from across the United States. The purpose of the conference was to create a National network for African-American women, affirm individuality, to reach African-American lesbian women in isolated areas, and to provide education.GLBT Historical Society. ''The Gay Life''. N.p. Audio Recording. Accessed February 1, 2017. https://archive.org/details/TheGayLife . The women came together at the conference to provide support, encouragement, and strength to bring awareness to issues and hardships which the members experienced and felt were important. The theme surrounding the event was "becoming visible", as many lesbian African Americans had been struggling with

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

, and

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

for several decades. These struggles ultimately affected the ability of African American lesbians to self-disclose their sexual orientation. The conference was an opportunity for African-American lesbians to express these concerns and struggles and to ultimately create a national network and support system for all African-American lesbians throughout the United States."Black Lesbians to Meet Oct. 17 in SF." ''Demeter: Women's News of the Monterey Bay Area'' (Oct. 1980): 5. ''CSUMB Digital Commons''. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.

Notable Speakers

Prominent activists in the African-American Lesbian Liberation Movement were keynote speakers for the "First Black Lesbian Conference". These speakers included Andrea Ruth Canaan, Pat Norman, and

Angela Davis Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of ...

.Cassell, Heather. “The Bay Area Reporter Online , Black Lesbians Display their Sapphic History.” ''Bay Area Reporter''. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2017. Each keynote speaker of the conference addressed relevant topics relating to strengths and oppressions faced through the struggles of African-American lesbians. Andrea Canaan, a notable black lesbian feminist, stressed in her speech the importance of both invisibility and visibility and the resulting responsibilities and purpose with "becoming visible". Through Canaan's speech, she ultimately presented how becoming more prominent in society could be either powerful or dangerous to the African American lesbian population. Pat Norman, a notable

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

for the

LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

, and also a keynote speaker for the conference, expanded on Canaan's speech. As a coordinator for Gay Health Services for San Francisco's Public Health Department, a founder of the Lesbians Mothers' Union, and also a board member of the

National Gay Task Force The National LGBTQ Task Force (formerly National Gay Task Force; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ ...

, Norman contributed her personal experience and understanding of how

internalized racism In social justice studies, internalized racism is a form of internalized oppression, defined by sociologist Karen D. Pyke as the " internalization of racial oppression by the racially subordinated." In her study ''The Psychology of Racism, '' Robi ...

is damaging to the emergence and support for African-American lesbians from the general population. During this period, Internalized racism was a prominent form of

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment of, or exercise of power over, a group of individuals, often in the form of governmental authority. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. No universally accepted model ...

experienced by African-American lesbian women. Internalized racism not only affected the emergence of African-Americans, but also lead African-American lesbians to expect a certain behavior from one another, and shaped the definition of African-American culture.

Events and Workshops

The two-day event of the "First Black Lesbian Conference" held eight workshops for attendees which included: * Business and Money Management, * Lesbians and the Law, *

Feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

* African American Women Role Models in the Arts, led by

Sabrina Sojourner Sabrina Sojourner (born October 23, 1952) is an American politician who previously served as the District of Columbia's Shadow Representative for the at-large district from January 1997 until 1999, the third individual in the position, preceded b ...

, * Wellness Counseling, * Health Issues and African Americans, * African Americans and Imperialism, led by Pat Parker, *

Interracial relationships Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different "Race (classification of human beings), races" or Ethnic group#Ethnicity and race, racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United Sta ...

Entertainment

The conference encompassed entertainment through poetry readings, dance, and music and was open to all of the gay community in the San Francisco Bay Area. The event held choreographed dance performances by M. Lambert-Van Buuren, who choreographed performed dances named "Morning Dance" and "Primal Roots", for the attendees of the conference. The conference also featured musical performances by Gwen Avery, Casselberry-Dupree, and Avotcja.

Conference Coordinators

The "First Black Lesbian Conference" was coordinated by 8 individuals: * Rani Eversley, * Kenya Johnson, * Rose Mitchell, * Marie Renfro, * Janna Rickerson, * Elizabeth Summers, and * Patricia Tilley.

References

{{African-American LGBT culture African-American history in San Francisco Feminism in California Lesbian culture in California LGBTQ African-American culture LGBTQ conferences LGBTQ culture in San Francisco LGBTQ events in California Lesbian history in the United States Women's conferences