Kevin Aviance
With his unique look and style, performer Aviance has become a popular personality in NYC's Gay community. In 2006, he was a victim of a vicious hate crime when he was attacked by a group of men who yelled anti-gay slurs at him. [The men later plead guilty to the hate crime charges and received sentences from 6 to 15 years in prison.]
Lee Daniels
Began his career as a casting director working on projects such as 'Purple Rain.' He went on to become the first sole black producer of an Academy Award-earning film, 'Monster's Ball.' Daniels went onto direct the Academy Award-winning 'Precious.' He identifies as gay and has two children.
Billie Holiday (1915-1959)
"Lady Day," one of America's finest jazz song stylists (and subject of the film 'Lady Sings the Blues'), was said to have had affairs with both men and women. Two of her most notable relationships included one with director Orson Welles and Tallulah Bankhead.
Andre Leon Talley
As Editor-At-Large at glossy fashion bible, VOGUE, Andre Leon Talley is the most recognized Black man in fashion. The Ivy leagued educated fashionisto is instrumental in promoting young designers of color and he has authored two books.
Josephine Baker (1906-1975)
Singer Josephine Baker was the belle of Paris in the 1920s, known for her beauty and sexually charged performance. In 1947, she and her gay French husband wed (her third marriage) and adoted a "Rainbow Tribe" of 12 children. Though she loved men, Baker had many affairs with women, including Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
Alice Walker
Self proclaimed womanist and bisexual, author Alice Walker once had a love affair with singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman whom she says she was "completely in love with." Walker received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her critically acclaimed novel 'The Color Purple.'
Audre Lorde (1934-1992)
Lorde was a prolific poet and activist in the 1960s. In 1980 she co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press which became the first U.S. publisher for women of color. Her essay, "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" critiqued the feminist movement for its racism. She died of breast cancer in 1992.
James Baldwin (1924-1987)
Baldwin, author, essayist, poet, playwright and activist, explored issues of racial and sexual identity in his much heralded literary art. Baldwin touched on issues facing black gays and lesbians at a time when society was not yet ready to grasp the idea.
Octavia Butler (1947-2006)
One of the most brilliant science fiction writers of our time, Octavia Butler authored more than 14 books that built and destroyed notions of race, class, sex and sexuality. In 1995, she won a $295,000 MacArthur Fellowship, known as the "genius grant." In 2000, she received the Nebula Award, science fiction's highest prize, for her novel 'Parable of the Talents.'
Bessie Smith (1894-1937)
Known by regal title "Empress of the Blues," Bessie Smith was the foremost blues singer of the 1920s. Though she married, she was bisexual and had many affairs with women. She also referenced same-sex love in her lyrics. In 1970, singer Janis Joplin paid for her gravestone which had previously been unmarked.
Darryl Stephens
Is most famous as the lead actor in the Showtime series, 'Noah's Arc,' also known as the black gay male 'Sex and the City.' Though initially reluctant to talk about his sexuality, Stephens confirmed that he is gay in 2007 but remains guarded about his private life.
Maurice Jamal
Maurice Jamal came out to his classmates at the tender age of 16 but waited five years to tell his family. The writer, director and actor is most noted for his film, 'Dirty Laundry' with Rockmond Dunbar and Loretta Devine. He says he finds it empowering to be an openly black gay man in Hollywood.
Sheryl Swoopes
Three time Olympic gold medalist and three time WNBA MVP, Swoopes is often referred to as the "Female Michael Jordan". She is the first women's basketball player to have a Nike shoe named after her "Air Swoopes." She married in 1995 and had a son, but divorced and came out 10 years later.
Ma Rainey (1886-1939)
Rainey is often referred to as The Mother of the Blues. Within five years of being signed to a recording contract in 1923, she recorded 100 songs. Though married to "Pa" Rainey, her 1928 song, 'Prove it on Me Blues,' made no bones about her relationships with women ("I don't like me no mens.") Rainey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
Alvin Ailey
One of the premiere American dancers and choreographers of our time, Ailey is the founder of the The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. His 1960 masterpiece Revalations is one of the most popular ballets performed in the 20th century. When Ailey died from AIDS in 1989, he asked that his doctor announce that he had died of terminal blood dyscrasia to save his mother -- who was always opposed to her son being gay.
E Lynn Harris
Harris sold his first book 'Invisible Life' in 1991 out of the trunk of his car before he landed a book deal and later went on to have nine of his books on the New York Times best seller's list. He was one of the first authors to explore being black and gay in his works of fiction.
Bill T. Jones
Bill T. Jones began his dance career at the State University at Binghamton as a theater major. Jones choreographed and performed worldwide before founding the Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company with his late partner Arnie Zane. He is the recipient of a Tony Award and MacArthur "genius grant."
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