On Thursday, October 24th, Dr. Kevin Mumford, a history professor at the University of Illinois, will deliver a lecture on African-American gay history.
In “Beyond the Closet: Reinventing African-American Gay History, 1963-1988,” Mumford will discuss how the experience of out African-Americans has changed over the years. Before the AIDS crisis began in the 1980s, gay African-American men, many of them activists, writers, and artists, would gather in churches and clubs as a way to network and socialize with their peers. Mumford will discuss the lives of some of these activists.
Mumford is the author of several books on race, politics, and sexuality in modern America. His books include Interzones: Black/White Sex Districts in Chicago and New York in the Early Twentieth Century and Newark: A History of Race, Rights, and Riots in America.
The free lecture begins at 6 p.m. in the University Center. A reception will precede the event at 5:30 p.m. in the theatre lobby. The lecture is sponsored by the University of Memphis African and African-American Studies Program and the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change.
