100 Women We Love: Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Ph.D.

We are thrilled to present the 2013 list of 100 Women We Love – Including…

A self-described “queer black troublemaker, a black feminist love evangelist, a prayer poet priestess,” Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs wields her Ph.D. like a weapon for good. Gumbs was the first scholar to research the archived papers of black lesbian writers Audre Lorde, June Jordan and Lucille Clifton, and tours the country with her interactive oracle project, The Lorde Concordance. “For me, teaching is a spiritual practice and a sacred ritual,” says Gumbs, who’s published scholarly works in Obsidian, Symbiosis, Macomere, and The Routledge Companion to Anglophone. She is the author of a collection of poems, 101 Things That Are Not True About the Most Famous Black Women Alive, and has several new books in progress, including Good Hair Gone Forever (a monograph on diaspora and the maternal), and School of Our Lorde (an educational resource). “I believe that being proud of who I am and celebrating my love has made it possible for me to do what I am here to do,” says Gumbs. “I am also proud to walk in the legacy of brave black lesbian feminists who were out when it was even harder to do so.” –NHM


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