After World War II, Atlanta and Charlotte emerged as leading urban centers in the South, redefining the region through their competing metropolitan identities. Both cities also served as home to queer communities who defined themselves in accordance with their urban surroundings and profited to varying degrees from the emphasis on economic growth. Uniting southern women's history with urban history, La Shonda Mims considers an imaginatively constructed archive including feminist newsletters and queer bar guides alongside sources revealing corporate boosterism and political rhetoric to explore the complex nature of lesbian life in the South. Mims's work reveals significant differences between gay men's and lesbian women's lived experiences, with lesbians often missing out on the promises of prosperity that benefitted some members of gay communities. Money, class, and race were significant variables in shaping the divergent life experiences for the lesbian communities of Atlanta and Charlotte; whiteness especially bestowed certain privileges. In Atlanta, an inclusive corporate culture bolstered the city's queer community. In Charlotte, tenacious lesbian collectives persevered, as many queer Charlotteans leaned on Atlanta's enormous Pride celebrations for sanctuary when similar institutional community supports were lacking at home.
La Shonda Mims is assistant professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University.
"Anyone who doubts the rich, multilayered history of the queer South should immerse themselves in Drastic Dykes and Accidental Activists: from bombings of gay bars during the Atlanta Olympics, to the unexpected appearance of Chick-Fil-A in the first conservative protests against Charlotte Pride, to the activists and organizers who pushed back against corporate heterosexual norms, Mims's book provides dozens of key moments and fascinating figures."--Jamie Harker, Signs "Mims's expansive and meticulous research offers up multiple examples of how the printed word, through lesbian and lesbian feminist publications--some long-lasting and others fleeting and irregular--was central to building and sustaining communities and to producing knowledge about nonnormative sexualities and critical feminist philosophical formulations."--Journal of Southern History "There is no one lesbian experience, just as there is no one human experience. Mims confronts this challenge head-on in her parallel histories of "women loving women" in Atlanta, GA, and Charlotte, NC . . . . [Mims] incorporates the experiences of wo mmen of color without tokenism . . . . She also skillfully discusses the role of sexism and gay white privilege. This important work sits at the intersection of race, economics, religion, sectionalism, gender, and sexuality . . . . Highly recommended."--CHOICE
