Black Lesbian Aesthetics argues that after the groundbreaking formation of the Combahee River Collective in 1974, Black lesbian writers who—inspired by the Black Arts Movement—created a literary movement in response to, and which transcended, the limits of the radical politics of the mid-sixties and seventies. By historicizing this era within the context of earlier Black lesbian writings through a sustained engagement with the work of Pat Parker (1944-1989), Audre Lorde (1934-1992), and Cheryl Clarke (b. 1947), I develop the concept of “Black lesbian aesthetics” to argue that this proliferation of literature produced by women of color from 1974-1988 evidence heretical shifts in self-definition. Black lesbian writers were operating within [re]creative and [re]productive modes of being and Black consciousness. My understanding of aesthetics is shaped by Audre Lorde’s 1984 seminar at the Free University of Berlin, where she posits that aesthetics should be measured from the “outsider position.” Through Black Feminist Thought and criticism, queer of color critique, and decolonial theory, I elucidate the ways in which “Black lesbian aesthetics” offers new insights about political and erotic practices between Black women.
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