Anita Cornwell


Anita Cornwell is an American lesbian feminist author. In 1983 she wrote the first collection of essays by an African-American lesbian, Black Lesbian in White America.

Biography

Born in Greenwood, South Carolina, Cornwell moved to Pennsylvania at age sixteen, living first in Yeadon with her aunt, then in Philadelphia with her mother, who moved north when Cornwell was eighteen. Cornwell has one sibling, an older brother. She graduated from Temple University with a B.S. in journalism and the social sciences in 1948. She worked as a journalist for local newspapers and a clerical worker for government agencies.
Cornwell has had work published in Feminist Review, Labyrinth, National Leader, Los Angeles Free Press and The Negro Digest, were among the first to identify the author as a black lesbian.
Her 1983 book Black Lesbian in White America is widely noted as the first collection of essays by a black lesbian.
Cornwell was honored by the Annual Lambda Literary Festival which was held in Philadelphia in 2000.

''Black Lesbians in America''

Cornwell published her book October 1st,1983. The book includes Cornwell's essays and an interview with activist, Audre Lorde.