Out of Their Trees 2

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

One of the leading black poets of the 20^th century was Langston Hughes. There is no conclusive evidence that he was gay, but his writing and the people he was close to make it likely that he could have been. A lot of websites go further and list him as definitely gay. I’m 90% convinced he was which is why I’ve chosen him for my second family history post.

Though not quite a household name (unless you watch “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” in which one of the main characters in named after him) Langston Hughes holds an important part in the history of black literature in America. His writing career began in the 1920. For a short while he was personal assistant to Carter G. Woodson, the founder of US Black History Month. Langston became a well-known writer and social activist during the years of racial segregation and was proud of his heritage, a lot of which he researched himself. If he was alive today I’m sure he’d be at the forefront of celebrating Black History Month, though he didn’t even consider himself black! Researching his own ancestry he realised that his heritage was more complex than he realised.

Three of his grandparents were born as free black Americans, all of them children of freed slaves. Only one generation earlier he had an ancestor who owned slaves, and another who was a slave-trader. Another great-grandfather, James Patterson, was a rarity in the deep south before the American Civil War – a free Afro-American. He helped many young black slaves to buy their freedom, and made sure they had safe passage to the north. James’ wife was the daughter of a French fur-trader who married a Cherokee girl. Their daughter Mary inherited a lot of the genetic characteristics of the Cherokees and was to play an important part in the life of her grandson Langston Hughes.

Mary married a free Afro-American who, like herself, was a quarter Native American, Charles Langston. It is said that his mother Lucy was related to Pocahontas. Lucy was born a slave. At the beginning of the 1800s she was given to Virginia plantation owner Roger Quarles in lieu of a debt. Very soon Lucy gave birth to Roger’s daughter. Unusually, Roger freed Lucy and their daughter from slavery and they lived together for the rest of their lives, having three more children, including Charles who kept his mother’s surname. Charles was a pioneer abolitionist and political activist.

The Quarles family were one of the earliest and most important settlers in the Virginia colonies. Langston’s 3-times-great-grandfather, John Quarles, married Jane Mallory, a member of an even more important settler family whose ancestry goes back to King John of England and beyond. From this marriage many thousands of Americans descend, including Tom Hanks and Steve McQueen, and gay composer Virgil Thomson. And through the Mallorys Langston is related to the Prince of Wales (and both of his wives), Tom Cruise, Glenn Close, Cindy Crawford, Britney Spears, and “Dorothy” herself, Judy Garland.

Langston Hughes’ multi-cultural ancestry is not unique. The programme “Who Do You Think You Are?” has shown how it can be very close indeed. Next month I’ll turn my attention to someone who is considered quintessentially English and look at the diverse ancestry of Will Young.

Black History Month

Today is the start of Black History Month. Like other history months the idea isn’t to exclude everyone else but to encourage people to join in and celebrate the contributions the community has made to the world. It also encourages and inspires black people to discover new information about their own heritage.

Some critics say it is wrong to relegate one section of society to one month. Actor Morgan Freeman has been very critical in the past. But these critics miss the point. It’s like saying why should we have a weekend when you can work or take time off any day of the week? The joy of being part of a society like ours is its variety. You don’t get variety by making every day and month the same. That would be dull, like people who stop celebrating their own birthday.

The celebration of black history actually goes back further than you might think. It began in February 1926 in the USA. Carter G. Woodson, who worked at the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History and edited the “Journal of Negro History”, created the first small-scale event that is now held annually. He chose February because it was the month in which the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (the president who introduced the freedom of slaves) and Frederick Douglass (black social reformer) fell. For various reasons we in the UK reserve February for LGBT History month, which the Americans are celebrating this month – it’s a simple theme swap.

But you can still celebrate it at any other time of year because, like LGBT History Month, it carries on the celebrations all year round on its website.

Undoubtedly, the main emphasis in the early days of rediscovering black heritage was around slavery. Issues of sexuality were largely ignored. But today the black lgbt community, both here and in other countries where it is celebrated, have the opportunity to display their own unique contribution to history.

On a more local point, a friend of mine, Laura, has just helped to set up a new project called the Nottingham Black Archive. She hopes to produce displays by this time next year and perhaps set up a museum (just like my own wish to see an lgbt museum here).

This month I’ll be joining the celebrations and bring you some information on lgbt black history alongside other general history.

Star Gayzing

One of my new projects is research into lgbt heavenly bodies. No, I don’t mean Matthew Mitcham! I mean stars and planets. When I was preparing my talk “Putting the Flags Out” I intended to begin with a history of the symbols ♀ and ♂,  and why the astronomical symbols for the planets Venus and Mars came to be used as gender symbols.

However, the more I looked the more I discovered there were many lgbt angles to the planets and stars and soon realised it could become the basis of a presentation in its own right.

Most of the constellations and planets have Greek or Roman mythology associated with them. Some originate much earlier in the Babylonian civilisation. Even way back then some stars had gay connections.

Star atlases over the centuries have seen constellations being chopped and changed as new were created or dropped. One of those that was dropped was called Antinous. The star maps below show you the before, during and after arrangements of this lost constellation.

Antinous was a real person. He was the boyfriend of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. A native of north-west Turkey, he was born probably 1900 years ago this year. After he met the emperor he was an inseparable companion. This came to an end in 130 AD when Hadrian and his court were in Egypt. After hunting for lions in the desert Antinous mysteriously drowned in the Nile. Legend says that Hadrian had received a prophecy saying the sacrifice of the thing he loved the most would guarantee future success. Stories of ritual sacrifice, suicide and murder have surrounded Antinous’s death ever since.

Whatever the truth behind Antinous’s death, Hadrian was utterly devastated. As is often the case even today a loved one’s death is commemorated. Rather than have a park bench with a plaque, Hadrian founded a city near to where Antinous drowned and name it Antinoopolis (that’s Antino-opolis). There were statues erected and coins minted with his image all around the empire, and Antinous was declared a god. To make sure that he could see his boyfriend every night wherever he was in his empire, Hadrian also created a new constellation called Antinous.

Constellations didn’t have fixed “boundaries” in those days. There were areas in-between which had no significant stars in them and weren’t assigned to any constellation. One constellation well known to the Romans was that of Aquila (map 1).

This represented the eagle which the Greek god Zeus sent to kidnap young Ganymede because he fancied him. Hadrian chose some stars below Aquila to turn into the constellation Antinous to show him being lifted away by the eagle (map 2).

It was symbolic location, with Antinous becoming a new Ganymede, a youth taken from the mortal world into the sky to be with the gods.

The constellation remained in the sky until quite recently. In 1930 the International Astronomical Union “cleaned up” the night sky in an effort to make proper scientific research more formalised and easier. As the third star map shows the stars on Antinous were absorbed back into Aquila (map 3).

Over the coming months I’ll be revealing more lgbt star tales as I go through the zodiac and other celestial bodies. So, if you’re star sign is Scorpio look out for my entry on 24^th October.

R.I.P.

Sad news of a friend ending his life. Miss you Paul. All my love and thoughts are with his partner Jens. I know how devastating it is to lose a partner.

Ready to be horrified?

Happy Bisexuality Day

If you’ve been to a Pride event anywhere in the world in the past few years you may have seen this flag.

It’s the Bisexuality Pride flag, and today is Bisexuality Day.

This month also sees the 30^th anniversary of the founding of the first organised bisexual group in the UK – the London Bisexual Group. The anniversary was celebrated at the annual BiCon which was held in Leicester earlier this month.

Bisexuality is one of the “labels” that have been around a long time. It was first used in the natural sciences in the 17th century to define organisms – plants as well as animals - that had both male and female parts. Bisexual was first used in human terms from the middle of the 19th century to describe the undifferentiated male and female condition found in the early embryonic state.

Even though bisexuality (as we use the word today) was being practised and groups like the Bloomsbury Group of artists and writers were formed, it wasn’t a word used by them. It wasn’t until the 1940s that it came to mean the recognition of sexual attraction to men and women.

Like homosexuality, once a separate named identity was defined people formed specific bisexual groups, and soon they revealed the discrimination there was against them. The bi activism echoed the gay rights movement in its intent, though it was felt that bisexuals were being discriminated against by both the gay and straight community. Many bisexuals felt driven away and isolated and felt they were being overlooked.

Bisexual rights groups grew during the 1970s, and a varied array of groups and organisations appeared around the world. It wasn’t long before international bisexual conferences were being held.

Like most developing communities, bisexuals identified their own specific issues and problems but had no overall unity. Partly because of this Wendy Curry, Michael Page and Gigi Raven Wilbur, bi activists in the US, founded the internet site BiCafe.com, now one of the major bisexual sites in the world.

Michael Page went on to create the Bisexual Pride flag for BiCafe’s first anniversary party on 5^th December 1998, and the following year, with Curry and Wilbur, created Bisexuality Day.

Like other celebrations Bisexuality Day is not just for bisexuals but for everyone to celebrate. After all, unlike football where club rivalry borders on tribal warfare, it doesn’t matter if you’re not “in the team” you can still “enjoy being at the match”.

Preparing for a few Thrills

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was trying to produce a gay Hallowe’en tour. Well, I think I’ve done it. Using my Seven Deadly Gay Sins tour as the basis I’ve put together a bigger tour with lots of new stories. I did it this way because there’s very little I could use for a traditional Hallowe’en tour with a gay theme. But don’t despair – the way it has turned out there is still blood and guts, and tales of vampires, ghosts and murder.

I intend this to be a one-off tour – never to be repeated. Because of that, and because it’ll last longer, I’m going to put up my usual charge and ask people to pre-book. I haven’t finalised a date or time yet, but if you’re interested let me know anyway.

Another reason for the increase in charge is the need to raise funds for an exhibition in LGBT History Month next February. I don’t have the financial resources that Nottinghamshire’s Rainbow Heritage has for their displays so funding it myself is my only option at the moment.

Without giving too much away – the new Hallowe’en tour will take us to old and new locations around Nottingham city centre and look at the origins of the modern vampire, a cross-dressing clairvoyant, and perhaps the ghost of Oscar Wilde. Add a good sprinkling of dismembered body parts and I think it’s a tour to thrill.

More information and full details of the tour will appear in a few days.