Draft:Black Lesbian Newsletter

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Onyx: Black Lesbian Newsletter
EditorLaverne Gagehabib, A. C. Barber, Vivienne Walker-Crawford
CategoriesLesbian
FrequencyBimonthly
First issue1982
Final issue1984
CountryUnited States
Based inBerkeley, California
LanguageEnglish
OCLC69262012
Cover of the June/July 1983 edition of Onyx: Black Lesbian Newsletter. The illustration shows a number of Black women dancing. Illustration by Sarita Johnson.
Cover of the June/July 1983 edition of Onyx.[1] Illustration by Sarita Johnson.

Onyx: Black Lesbian Newsletter was a bimonthly magazine focusing on Black lesbian life and culture.[2][3][4][5] Originally titled Black Lesbian Newsletter, Onyx was based in Berkeley from 1982 to 1984.[6][7][3][8] It was created by Laverne Gagehabib, A.C. Barber, and Vivienne Walker-Crawford.[9] The newsletter contained fiction pieces, opinion articles, news, reviews, poems, personal ads, art, and photographs.[10] Onyx was the earliest of the three San Francisco Bay Area publications which focused on Black lesbian life and culture, the others being Aché: A Journal for Lesbians of African Descent and Issues! The Magazine for Lesbians of Color.[11] Onyx covers were illustrated by Sarita Johnson.[9] Its editors included Marlene Bonner.[12]

Laverne Gagehabib

Since the end of Onyx Laverne has published four books. The Blacksmith and the Doctor, The Doctors and Their Wives, and Jonny and Vera. One of the most prominent works being Circles of Power:Shifting Dynamics in a Lesbian-centered Community in collaboration with Barbara Summerhawk. The book is a study on Southern Oregon women's community. All of the books seem to have limited physical copies making them difficult to find.[13]

See also

References

  1. Onyx: Black Lesbian Newsletter, June / July 1983. 1983.
  2. Piccoli, Dana (October 30, 2023). "Exploring 70 years of lesbian publications: From 1940s zines to modern glossy magazines". News Is Out. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
  3. Smith, Michael J. (1983). Colorful People and Places: A Resource Guide for Third World Lesbians and Gay Men ... and for White People who Share Their Interests. Quarterly Press of BWMT. p. 27.
  4. Bell, Alan, ed. (1991). BLK. BLK Company. p. 16.
  5. Feminist Collections: A Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources. Women's Studies Librarian-at-Large for The University of Wisconsin System. 1983.
  6. Myers, JoAnne (2013). Historical dictionary of the lesbian and gay liberation movements. Lanham. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-8108-7468-8. OCLC 861537183.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. Ostertag, Bob (2006). People's movements, people's press : the journalism of social justice movements. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-8070-6164-6. OCLC 62281826.
  8. Cruikshank, Margaret (1984). New Lesbian Writing: An Anthology. Grey Fox Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-912516-81-3. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  9. Wilson, Tim (2015). "Black Lesbian Newsletter / Onyx Collection, 1979-1989 GLC 102". Prepared for the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center, San Francisco Public Library. Retrieved 2025-05-20.
  10. Fauxsmith, Jennifer. "Research Guides: LGBTQ+: Magazines & Newsletters". guides.library.harvard.edu. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
  11. Cassell, Heather (December 16, 2009). "Black lesbians display their Sapphic history". The Bay Area Reporter. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021.
  12. Oxbridge Directory of Newsletters. Oxbridge Communications. 1991. p. 395. ISBN 978-0-917460-32-6.
  13. Summerhawk, Barbara; Gagehabib, La Verne (2000). Circles of power: shifting dynamics in a lesbian-centered community. Norwich, Vt: New Victoria Publishers. ISBN 978-1-892281-13-5.