Anthologies of African American Writing

Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men

"Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men" . Ed Essex Hemphill. Conceived by Joseph Beam. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1991. xxxi+274 pp.

• Repr. With new introduction by Jafari Sinclaire Allen; afterword by Chuck Traver. Washington, DC: Redbone Press, 2007. lviii+389 pp.

When I think of home. Sacrifice / Adrian Stanford -- The jazz singer / Charles Henry Fuller -- Daddy lied / Rory Buchanan -- A first affair / Charles R.P. Pouncy -- The book of Luke / Guy-Mark Foster -- Letter to Gregory / Alan Miller -- Adelphus King / John Keene, Jr. -- In my own space / Calvin Glenn -- Maybelle's boy / Lamont B. Steptoe -- At 36 / Charles Harpe -- Commitments / Essex Hemphill -- Baby, I'm for real. Comfort / Don Charles -- Safe harbour / David Frechette -- Names and sorrows / D. Rubin Green -- Couch poems / Donald Woods -- Summer chills / Rory Buchanan -- At the club (excerpts) / Alan E. Miller -- In the darkness, fuck me now / Adrian Stanford -- The tomb of sorrow / Essex Hemphill -- Remembrance of Rittenhouse Square / Adrian Stanford -- Hey, brother, what's hap'nin? / Cary Alan Johnson -- Jailbait / Don Charles -- What do I do about you? / Donald Woods -- Obi's story / Cary Alan Johnson -- Brothers loving brothers / Vega -- Hold tight gently. An infected planet / Wrath -- When my brother fell / Essex Hemphill -- It happened to me / Roger V. Pamplin, Jr. -- Letter to Roger / Deryl K. Deese -- "Non, je ne regrette rien" / David Frechette -- The scarlet letter, revisited : a very different AIDS diary / Walter Rico Burrell -- Hooked for life / Assoto Saint -- The worst of it / Craig A. Reynolds -- Remembrance / Kenneth McCreary -- Aunt Ida pieces a quilt / Melvin Dixon -- Hope against hope / Craig G. Harris -- For colored boys who have considered / Bobby Smith -- Brother, can you spare some time / Joseph Beam -- Prescription / Donald Woods -- The absence of fear. Psalm for the ghetto / Adrian Stanford -- True confessions : a discourse of images of black male sexuality / Isaac Julien and Kobena Mercer -- Looking for Langston : an interview with Isaac Julien / Essex Hemphill -- Undressing Icons / Essex Hemphill -- James Baldwin : not a bad legacy, brother / Joseph Beam -- James Baldwin (1924-1987) / Carlyle R. Black -- Tongues untied : an interview with Marlon Riggs / Ron Simmons -- Tongues untied / Marlon Riggs -- The absence of fear : an open letter to a brother / Reginald T. Jackson -- Some thoughts on the challenges facing black gay intellectuals / Ron Simmons -- Toward a black gay aesthetic : signifying in contemporary black gay literature / Charles I. Nero -- Black macho revisited : reflections of a SNAP! queen / Marlon Riggs -- In an afternoon light / Essex Hemphill -- Making ourselves from scratch / Joseph Beam.

From Hemphill's introduction: "My search for evidence of things not seen, evidence of black gay experiences on record, evidence of 'being' to contradict the pervasive invisibility of black gay men, at times proved futile. . . . But I persevered. I continued to seek affirmation, reflection, and identity. . . . I continued to seek the _necessary_ historical reference for my desires" (xliv). "If there is to be evidence of our experiences, we learned by the close of the 1980s that our own self-sufficiency must ensure it, so that future generations of black gay men will have references for their desires" (xlix). (Quoted from Matt Brim. "James Baldwin's Queer Utility." ANQ 24.4 (2011): 209-16, at 209.)

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