In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology
Edited by Joseph Beam
New Introduction by James Earl Hardy
In the Life, an expression which means being gay, is also the title of this collection of writings in which more than 25 black authors explore what it means to be doubly different—both black and gay—in modern America. These stories, verses, works of art, and theater pieces voice the concerns and aspirations of an often silent minority. They can be poignant, erotic, resolute or angry, but always reflect the affirming power of coming together to build a strong black gay community. Editor Joseph Beam began collecting this material in 1984 after years of frustration with gay literature that had no message for—and little mention of—black gay men. “The bottom line,” he wrote, “is this: We are Black men who are proudly gay. What we offer is our lives, our love, our visions… We are coming home with our heads held up high.”
With a new introduction by best-selling author James Earl Hardy, In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology is a testament to the power of words to change lives. RedBone Press is pleased to reintroduce readers of all generations to this seminal collection of black gay men’s writing.
ISBN-10: 0-9786251-2-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-9786251-2-2
Specs: Softcover, 223 pp.
Price: $17.00
Pub. Date: May 2008
Cover photo copyright © 1985 by Sharon Farmer
Cover design: E.M. Corbin
Contributors
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Praise for In The Life :
To put it bluntly, this is the type of book that prevents suicide. …The availability of [In the Life] is a matter of life and death for black gay men and those of us who understand black gay men to be priceless members of our communities. And as much as [Lisa] Moore’s act of reprinting In the Life and the companion text, Brother to Brother (2007), was an act of solidarity with and love for black gay men, Beam’s original work and Moore’s accountability to that work is …a black feminist act. …[In the Life] is a much-needed text in the classroom, and in daily life. This book needs to be able to pass through people’s hands and inform our contemporary consciousness, our definition of survival in profoundly deadly times.
—alexis pauline gumbs, American Book Review,
Jan-Feb 2010
These [In the Life and Brother to Brother] are timely reissues of two groundbreaking anthologies from 1986 and 1991, respectively. RedBone Press has done an excellent job of each, updating contributors’ biographies and adding new introductions. …RedBone [has] produced books which are both more attractive and reader-friendly than the Alyson originals. It’s a huge commercial leap of faith to reprint these titles… Still, with a wide and attractive further list—including implicit successor volumes to these, such as G. Winston James and Other Countries’ Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Writing and G. Winston James and Lisa C. Moore’s Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity—RedBone is to be praised not only for disinterring these important titles, but for building on them so tangibly in furthering the presence of important and influential black gay writing in all genres.
—Richard Canning, Chroma: A Queer Journal, March 2009