| This dissertation provides a history of lesbian of color identity and community formations in Los Angeles and New York during the 1970s-1980s. This account traces three lesbian of color political generations of activists that emerged during the period in question and also describes a developmental model for the growth of lesbian of color organizations with a focus on two case studies, Salsa Soul Sisters (NY) and Lesbians of Color (LA). I also discuss the importance of cultural institutions and print culture by examining Azalea and Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, created by lesbians of color to develop and sustain a lesbian of color political consciousness and movement.;The stories from the oral history narratives reveal that there are many routes that lead to lesbian of color activism, and many forms of community-building. I also contest the narrative that social movements and organizations break down and are divided because of differences--whether based on race, gender, sexuality, or class.;Evidence for conclusions is drawn from 58 interviews with individuals and from archival material. Primary documents include organizational reports and manuals, meeting agendas, fliers, posters, books and periodicals. Methodologically, I seek to view people who express multiple identities, and who have been subject to multiple oppressions, through an intersectional lens (rather than by privileging any one aspect of their subjective self-definition, i.e. `lesbian' or `person of color'). Such a methodology is necessary to appreciate a history of community-building and identity politics practiced in ways that allow differences to become vehicles for organizing rather than fracturing.;Despite their awareness of, and desire to pay attention to, privilege and to the positional manifestations of oppression, lesbians of color also fell prey to replicating some of the actions that they were working against. A study of these conflicts and challenges based on identity politics is a necessary part of understanding the complexity of identity formations and social justice movement-building. |
