This is apart of the photo essay Hidden in the Open - a photo essay and collection of African-American gay male couples throughout history going as far back as the 19th century.
Hello my name is Sadane, pronounced like suh-dayne, not suh-dawn-aye, not sedan, not say-den, it’s SUH-DAYNE. I have to say this to damn near everybody I meet and let the record show that in the 23rd year of my exhausting life, I am standing fully in my name now. Get it right or get cut bitch! This photo was taken a week or two ago because I’ve damn near forgotten about this app but hopefully after posting this, I’d be able to change that. Im still looking for my group of friends within other black queers or black people in general but only the ones that cared enough to unlearn all the bullshit homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that was forced on majority of us from when we were just innocent children. Obviously if you aren’t either then I don’t rally give a fuck just don’t disrespected my intersecting identities. I’m a Pisces and into writing, drawing, learning how to play instruments, might start creating content aimed at black and/or queer such as a comic strip or maybe some really creative tik toks. I work in two different kitchens every week, I watch a lot of tv shows and movies, i love video games and is a proud owner of a ps4, I smoke weed almost everyday because I suffer from clinical depression and an undiagnosed anxiety disorder(I’m taking medication for it from “getcerebral”). I’ve been told many times in the past that I can be really funny and I may want an adorable pet cat in the future if I can get my funds up because despite having two jobs I’m still fucking broke with $4 in my checking account and $5 in my savings(I’m gonna lose my goddamn mind). I was born and raised in Brooklyn but currently living in florida which is a big yikes in itself. A bit of a foodie and can walk very long distances lol thank you Brooklyn. I fully enjoy adult animated programs along with the animated shows I watched when I was younger. I love watching anime or anything that’s based no a comic book or manga plus sci-fi, magic, fantasy and horror. I fully stan for Beyoncé as well as Chloe x Halle meaning I have to get a notification whenever they do something just so I don’t miss anything that may be important. If there are any handsome nerds, jocks or stoners that made it this far into reading this, pls hit my dms, I haven’t had any gentleman callers in the past few months*in my Blanche Devereux voice lol*(only the last part of that statement tho). But seriously I’ve been on prep for almost a year now and it really feels like I’m just wasting it at this point tbh :/ we could start as friends obviously and possibly become more if the energies are right, I know I’m not supposed to need a man but i guess sometimes I just want one lol and that’s it for this incredibly long post, thanks to everybody who actually read through all of that, s/o to my chaotic neurodivergent brain that allowed me to actually put some effort into this introduction and my profile, most of all s/o to myself because after hating myself for damn near most of my short life, I not only missed out on my teen years but also a chance at self-love. As a child I never received the proper love, guidance, comforting, encouragement and emotional navigation that would’ve been very beneficial for my mental health. Like I said, hopefully I start posting way more so until next time✌
The postcard is from the 1930′s. It dates back to a time when Europe disregarded ethnic and tribal boundaries to divided Africa up into colonies where land and people were exploited.
More adult oriented postcards from the era that were distributed privately among like minded individuals were more risque than the above card. In their depictions of same-sex behavior, typically shown were African males with huge sexual appendages dominating willing European males. In gay mainstream and general mainstream media, there is a phobia of showing men of African descent romantically involved with one another; and, few are willing to challenge the phobia.
The postcard above is evidently different in what it shows. The card is non-erotic. All the subjects in the card are African. In the midst of largely heterosexual couplings, one gay couple is featured prominently holding hands as they lovingly look at one another without so much as a disapproving glance from the straight couples.
Same-sex relationships in Africa is nothing new as anthropological and ethnographic observations predating European colonialism reveal. There once was a time when same-sex behavior was accepted as part of the larger arc of human expression and not frowned upon. Same-sex behavior could be accepted and even valued in Africa’s many ethnic tribes. Under the intellectual and Judo-Christian influences of a Europe claiming to have only the best interest of the people always in mind, much of this acceptance and valuation disappeared. .
After the colonial powers left, much of Africa chose to keep foreign customs or laws morally frowning or criminalizing same-sex desiring folk. Observed and oral histories that were evidence of a tolerance or an outright full embracing of same-sex desiring behavior became largely denied and forgotten to be replaced by the intolerable homophobia that make for today’s headline news around the world in a now “free” Africa.
