Black Lesbian Fiction emerged as a literary genre out of the cultural work of Black feminists of the 1970’s and 1980’s. The genre’s formal beginning was marked in 1974 by the publication of the novel, Loving Her. Despite its cultural significance, Black Lesbian Fiction and the writers who worked within the genre have been largely erased from dominant discourse across various academic fields. I argue that this erasure is due chiefly to dominant narratives which recognize these writers solely as cultural producers and not as theorists. Using José Muñoz’s theory of futurity, I explore political and theoretical legacies within the works of two novels, Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley and The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez. Through close readings of both novels, I demonstrate that Black lesbian writers construct futurity as a site of liberation and agency for members of the Black community.
