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    Homosexuality and the Harlem Renaissance

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    Teacher Lyndsey Schlax of the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts is teaching the nation’s first on-site high school LGBT course, according to dis­trict officials. In this column, students from her class will be anonymously sharing with the San Francisco Bay Times their thoughts about related matters, and what they are learning in the groundbreaking course, “LGBTQ Studies.”

    Student- 9th Grade

    A popular figure of the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes, who is known to have written about African American identity in the 20th century. What he is not known for is his homosexuality; he remained closeted.

    When I learned about him in 5th grade, we were not taught about that aspect of his identity. Hughes is not the only vic­tim of this phenomenon: attitudes toward homosexual soldiers were poor during World War II, and thousands were dishonorably discharged because of their orientation. During the Cold War, homophobia was branded as “patriotism” as we put homosexuals in the same box as godless commies in what is known as the Lavender Scare.

    Ms. Schlax’s class is the first I have heard of the LGBTQ experience in American history. But the phenomenon is more ancient than our nation. In clas­sical Greece, older men regularly had mentoring and sexual relationships with teenage boys, in what we now call ped­erasty. Taught in 6th grade World History class? Nope.

    In South Asia, transgender women formed communities led by a mother figure away from their home tribes. These people are known as hijras, and are fighting for representation in Indian government today. Of them, I have heard little.

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    Our curriculum cannot ignore such a historied and persecuted people. If the objective of a history class is to teach our history, culture and society, should these people remain in the dark? Why do the few men of high office get so much attention when millions go with­out being taught about?

    LGBTQ studies is an essential class for the America of the 21st century, as much as one on our government and ethnicities. In the five weeks I have attended her class, I have learned a life­time of knowledge about the LGBTQ, and I think others deserve the same.

    Student- 12th Grade

    What happens to a dream deferred?

    Does it dry up

    Like a raisin in the sun?

    Or fester like a sore–

    And then run?

    Does it stink like rotten meat?

    Or crust and sugar over–

    like a syrupy sweet?

    Maybe it just sags

    like a heavy load.

    Or does it explode?

    -Langston Hughes

    Most English classes will analyze this poem as a perspective on the American Dream from a black man who cannot attain the white picket fence, the dependable salary in exchange for hard work, and the family. They will praise the author for his poem. They will omit the fact that many of his poems refer­ence his homosexuality. Perhaps some­one’s sexuality is not essential to their work, but as artists, the people of the Harlem Renaissance reflected their lives through their art.

    Their sexuality was part of their lives and their identity.

    The Harlem Renaissance is taught in schools as a black movement. While that is true, it was also clearly an LGBTQ movement. Artists in the Harlem Renaissance who identified as LGBTQ, whether through their ap-pearance, art or word of mouth, include Gladys Bentley, Richard Nugent, Countee Cullen, Angelina Weld and Ma Rainey.

    Ma Rainey’s song “Prove It on Me Blues” explicitly states LGBTQ sexuality in the chorus: They say I do it. Ain’t nobody caught me, You all got to prove it on me; Went out last night, with a crowd of my friends, They must’ve been womens, ‘cause I don’t like no mens. Wear my clothes just like a man, Talk to the gals, just like any old man The teasing that Ma Rainey does, taunting people to prove it on her, was a reality for many people. In Harlem slang, LGBTQ activ­ity was referred to as Your likker told you (misguided behaviors).

    As Langston Hughes talked about in his poem CAFE: 3 A.M., there was such a thing as a vice squad who were preoccu­pied with capturing individuals in immor­al acts, such as homo­sexuality. These orga­nizations set out to break up rent parties where homosexual activity was present. In this report from the Harlem Newspaper The New York Age, we can see the outraged outlook outsiders had on homosexuality in Harlem and its ten­ants: “One of these rent parties a few weeks ago was the scene of a tragic crime in which one jealous woman cut the throat of another, because two were rivals for the affections of a third woman. The whole situation was on a par with the recent Broadway play [about lesbianism, The Captive], import­ed from Paris, although the underworld tragedy took place in this locality. In the meantime, the combination of bad gin, jealous women, a carving knife, and a rent party is dangerous to the health of all concerned.” All of this LGBTQ his­tory in American History is omitted from textbooks and lessons, but LGBTQ Studies aims to include the large influence LGBTQ people have had on history. For more information about the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, please visit http://www.sfsota.org/

    Student Voices

    PHOTO BY JO LYNN OTTO

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    Lyndsey Schlax has been a teach­er in the San Francisco Unified School District since 2008. She is uniquely qualified to address multiple areas of LGBT studies, having also specialized in subjects such as Modern World History, Government, Economics and U.S. Politics. She is a National Board Certified Teacher, and earned her M.A. in Teaching at the Univer­sity of San Francisco.