Gay Harlem Of The 1920s: An Interview With Historian Eric Garber

Out of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, which lasted about ten years, came such creative notables as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer. For Hughes and others, the Harlem Renaissance was a time of race-consciousness and pride.

"Many of the key figures who  made the [Harlem] renaissance possible were lesbians and gay men," says Eric Garber, a gay San Francisco-based historian. Among these gay men were such luminaries as writer and critic Wallace Thurman, scholar Alain Leroy Locke, and poet Claude McKay. Garber describes Wallace Thurman as a man who was "a productive character" but one who "was very dark-skinned and had real contradictions around it because he received some prejudice around it. He would hate it and then two days later, he'd love it and hating it and hating light skins. Same way with his homosexuality." Another important gay figure at the time was Carl Van Vechten, the white novelist, journalist, and critic, who wrote the novel called Nigger Heaven (1926), "which became a bestseller for the white public and got a lot of white people interested in Harlem in a way that I'm sure he had not intended. I think it paved the way for a great deal more exploitation than certainly  he had intended. I don't think he intended his book to be taken the way it was taken. I think that was total naivete on his part. Foolishness almost. I don't think Nigger Heaven works at all. I found it rather offensive personally even though I like most of his other stuff." However, says Garber, ""some of his black peers at the time [such as the late James Weldon Johnson and Bruce Nugent, both writers] found nothing wrong with it." On the other hand, the black intellectual "[W.E.B.] Du Bois hated it."

Garber points out that "in the second page of the book, he [Van Vechten] explains that nigger heaven is the balcony of the theatre, the only place blacks were allowed to go to."

Van Vechten, says the blond, blue-eyed 28-year-old historian, "had a real fascination and love for Harlem and blacks in general" and expressed that love by focusing on "a lot of public attention of a great many black writers and artists," in his capacity as a journalist.

Among the places blacks and whites , artists, writers, socialites, and gays and lesbians could rub elbows was at A'Lelia Walker's Harlem apartment or her Hudson River estate. A'Lelia was the daughter of the black millionaire Madame C. J. Walker, whose wealth came from her hair straightening process. A'Lelia used the money her mother left her to "throw huge parties. I don't know if she was gay, but I do know she loved lesbians and gay men. She loved having them around her all the time. She loved the artists and writers."

Alexander Gumby's salon was another gathering place for creative lesbians and gay men. Gumby, who came to Harlem in1909 and was a butler turned postal clerk, was "very entranced," says Garber, "with the theatrical world and the artistic world and set up a salon basically to have parties. He also collected books." (That explains why his salon was called Gumby's Bookstore.)

As far as gay bars are concerned, "My understanding is there were no real gay bars. There were bars that sort of catered to gays but not in the sense that we know gay bars now.
"They [gay bars] started in really large numbers in the '40s definitely. I'm not sure about in Harlem, but nationwide it would seem like prior to the '40s, there were some places where you could go to pick people up."

"There were some gay places [that would have drag shows] that were very tourist-oriented where straight people would come to look at gays. There were also lesbian bars that had male impersonators. Prior to the '20s, at one point, female impersonators and male impersonators were considered quite respectable. No one had any idea that there was a sexual connotation to it. The ones that were just [for] socializing tended to be tourist places. They were listed in tourist guides. They were quasi-gay bars. But not like what we know today when there were only gay people there and [where you can] socialize and party and be yourself and let your hair down."

What was Harlem's reaction to homosexuality? Was there any homophobia? "It doesn't appear to be that way," replies Garber."Particularly among the artists and writers, there doesn't appear to have been censure at all. [Writer and artist] Bruce Nugent wrote "Smoke, Lilies, and Jade" [a 1926 short story about black male homosexuality] and he received a little cold shoulder for a couple of weeks. But he was openly homosexual throughout the period and went to the drag balls with [writer and NAACP executive] Walter White and his wife. For him there was no problem. There might have been for the very flamboyant female impersonators. Just thinking about the words that were used within the black community for homosexual like 'sissy' and 'people with freakish ways' and stuff so much different than words in the white community, which were things like 'deviate,' 'pervert,' and 'degenerate.' It would seem as though the attitude at least was less condemning. Certainly not open-armed embracing but not quite as condemnatory."

This is an edited excerpt from an article that was originally published in the now-defunct gay publication the New York City News (June 22, 1983).

The Short Life Of A Newspaper

"A newspaper is lumber made malleable. It is ink made into words and pictures. It is conceived, born, grows up, and dies of old age in a day."--Jim Bishop, journalist/author.

Source: The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners, edited by Geoff Tibballs (Carroll & Graf, 2004).

Risking All For Freedom

As I stood at the corner of 125th Street and Broadway in Harlem, on my way to Fairway supermarket, a city bus turned the corner. On the side of the bus was an ad for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The ad included a very striking  work of art: a lone black man in a wooden rowboat surrounded by hungry sharks and threatening ocean waves. This painting was a very dramatic and memorable depiction of a man (Haitian, perhaps?) putting himself at great risk for the sake of freedom. (I would love to know the name of the artist and when the painting was created.)

At a time when immigrants (illegal and otherwise) are vehemently demonized, this portrait is a reminder of how precious and desirable freedom is.

Evaluating Literature

"A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author."--G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English author.

Source: The Mammoth Book of Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners, edited by Geoff Tibballs (Carroll & Graf, 2004).

Suggesting An Idea To A Black Gay Magazine

Stephen Johnson, Editor/Publisher
Whazzup! Magazine
2501 Ivy Drive, Suite 19
Oakland, CA 94606
February 12, 1997

Dear Stephen:

The now-defunct New York Native, a gay newspaper I wrote for from 1983 to 1988, had a regular feature called "Carbon Copy" in which the paper published letters that readers sent to government agencies, organizations, news media, etc. regarding some gay-related issue. I think Whazzup! should publish something similar.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

Reporting A Celebrity Arrest

Gregory Victorianne, Editor & Publisher
Buti Voxx Magazine
5120 South Harper Avenue, Apt. #A-7
Chicago, IL 60615-4160
May 22, 2000

Dear Gregory:

Thanks for continuing to send me issues of Buti Voxx. I have included them in my "Homosexuality--African-American" file.

One other thing, in Issue 37 there is an item that states that " R&B [singer]Teven Campbell brings da Summa of 99 two A close w/Some Smoke & Solisticin' [sic] A Black Cop 4 Some Dick...." I went to the library to see if I could find a newspaper or magazine article about the aforementioned on the computer. I could find no mention of it. I would appreciate it if you could direct me to a printed source. I would like to put that also in my file. If you have a copy of an article about Tevin Campbell soliciting a police officer,please send me a photocopy.

Again, thanks for sending me Buti Voxx.

Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith

This letter received no response.

Giving Freelance Journalists Respect

Wilbert A. Tatum, CEO/Editor-in Chief
New York Amsterdam News
2340 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10027
July 25, 1989

Dear Mr. Tatum:

As a longtime contributor to the Arts and Entertainment page, I think it is a disgrace that [editor] William Egyir, while I was speaking to him about a manuscript of mine that has been sitting in type a long time, disconnected the call. And when I called back, I was told that he was "tied up." Over the years I have dealt with many editors, and they have always taken the time to discuss a piece with me. Mel Tapley [the Arts and Entertainment editor] has always been such an editor (I'll be glad when he comes back from vacation so I won't have to deal with Egyir, who behaves like someone uncivilized.)

I thought you should be made aware of the behavior of one of your subordinates because it is a reflection on the paper. It is such bad behavior that has convinced me to join the National Writers Union so that journalists who work freelance such as myself will get the respect we deserve. After all, it is the writers who are the backbone of any paper.

Sincerely yours,

Charles Michael Smith