Queering the Color Line: Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in American Culture

A study of how homosexuality was invented as a category of identity in the USA beginning in the late 19th century. Analyzing a range of sources, including sexology texts, early cinema, and African-American literature, Siobhan B. Somerville argues that the emerging understanding of homosexuality depended on the context of the black/white colour line , the dominant system of racial distinction during this period. This book thus critiques and revises tendencies to treat race and sexuality as unrelated categories of analysis, showing instead that race has historically been central to the cultural production of homosexuality.