#MakingBlackQueerHistory at HBCUs

Black Women Radicals’ Blog, “Voices in Movement” welcomes you to engage with our Black History Month 2020 theme, #MakingBlackQueerHistory: Black LGBTQ+ Women, Gender Non-Conforming, and Non-Binary Student-Activism at HBCUs.

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are formidable academic, cultural, and political institutions in the United States. Defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as “any historically black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principal mission was, and is, the education of black Americans, and that is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary of Education”, HBCUs were fortified as institutions of higher learning for formerly enslaved and freed Africans who were legally denied access to an education. However, it was after the American Civil War and during the Reconstruction-era, that the first historically Black colleges were established by the Freedmen’s Bureau (formally, the U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands), which was established by Congress to provide aid to newly freed enslaved Africans, in conjunction with the help of Black churches, and the American Missionary Association. 

Since their establishments, HBCUs have been on the forefront of Black intellectual, political, and cultural productions in the United States and around the world. Whether it be politics; the Civil Rights Movement; the Black Power movement; the Black Arts movement, Pan-Africanism and transnational, Black solidarity campaigns; Black feminist thought and behavior; the Black literary tradition; advances in medicine, and so much more, HBCUs have been at the vanguard of Black movement building and in making Black history. Prominent alumni include the late Toni Morrison (Howard University), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (Morehouse College), Booker T. Washington (Hampton University), and Marian Wright Edelman (Spelman College). 

However, who are the Black queer, trans, gender non-conforming and non-binary history makers, agitators, and change makers at HBCUs? How have Black LGBTQ+ students and alumni spearheaded movements as leaders and radical socio-political agents of change at HBCUs and beyond? How have Black queer and trans students and alumni of HBCUs contributed to the intellectual, political, and cultural productions in Africa and in the African Diaspora? How are they continuing in the legacy of radical Black queer and trans organizing and movement building at HBCUs? How have they and how will they continue to catalyze and create Black history? 

For Black History Month 2020 and beyond, Black Women Radicals uplifts, honors, and centers the profound legacy of lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer/questioning, transgender women and gender non-conforming, non-binary, and genderqueer (LGBTQ+) students and alumni who had, have, and continue to make Black queer history at HBCUs. Interviewing 18 Black LGBTQ+ women and non-binary student activists and alumni from Bethune-Cookman University, Bowie State University, Fayetteville State University, Howard University, Spelman College, and the University of the District of Columbia, these activists and alumni offered insights to not other their leadership on their respective campuses but what can be done to ensure LGBTQ+ inclusion, rights, justice, representation, and recognition at HBCUs. 

Read about the work of Annette “Chi” Hughes (she/her/hers), who paved a formidable legacy for LGBTQ+ student-activists at Howard University, as the co-founder of the first openly LGBTQ+ student organization at any HBCU.  Michaela Moore (she/her/hers) is a leading a LGBTQ+ student movement at Fayetteville State University to ensure all colors of the spectrum are represented and included at the historically Black university. Non-binary student-activist Jasmine J. Moye (they/them/theirs) envisions a future where being LGBTQ+ at historically black colleges and universities is normalized, humanized, and affirmed. Queer activist, organizer, and movement journalist, Clarissa Brooks (she/her/hers) is here to remind HBCUs and students alike that respectability politics, symbolic representation, and the limiting narrative of ‘Black Excellence’ will not save us. A two-time alumnus of Howard University, Victoria Kirby York (she/her/hers) is adamant about HBCUs claiming, acknowledging, and honoring the power of queer student-activism, leadership, and legacy on their campuses.  Sydney Stephens (she/her/hers) wants LGBTQ+ students at HBCUs to know their lives, their politics, their activism, and their humanity matters. Destiny Harris (who uses all pronouns) is tired of the erasure of queer students, organizing, and leadership at HBCUs.  Queer non-binary student-activist Imani Bryant (they/them/she/her) makes it plain and clear they will not choose between their queerness and Blackness. Student-activist and actor Moses Bossenbroek (they/them/she/her) will not be bound by binaries, boundaries, and borders at Howard University and beyond. Quartice Robinson (she/her/hers) is happy to find queer community and family at Fayetteville State University. Justice Hicks (she/her/hers) shares her perspectives on being transgender at an HBCU and why LGBTQ+ student groups on campus need more support. A Black queer feminist organizer, activist, educator, and student affairs professional, Trinice McNally (she/her/hers) is relentless when it comes to transforming and creating liberatory spaces for LGBTQ+ students at HBCUs. As the president of Bowie State University’s LGBTQ+ student organization, the Gay-Straight Alliance, Zenobia Fenrick (she/her/hers) is working to build a formidable Black queer consciousness on campus.  Genderqueer activist, organizer, and environmentalist Eva Dickerson (they/theirs/she/hers) wants more than just LGBTQ+ representation at HBCUs––they want gender equity and gender justice.  Alexis D. Henninger (uses all pronouns) believes all HBCUs should explicitly be committed in creating safe and inclusive campuses for LGBTQ+ students. Jasmine Cameron (she/her/hers) shares her perspectives and experiences of being a lesbian student-activist at an HBCU. Student-activist Alexis Grady (they/them/theirs) is relentless when it comes to ensuring LGBTQ+ student representation, visibility, and rights are seen, heard, felt, and integrated at Howard University.