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Title
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Letter from Anita Cornwell to Audre Lorde
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Description
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Audre Lorde (1934 - 1992) was an American poet, novelist, memoirist, essayist. She received a master’s degree in Library Science and worked as a young adult librarian and school librarian in the 1960’s. Lorde also published poetry influenced by her reactions to racism, sexism, and homophobia. She married and had two children. Her first major book of poetry, Coal, was published in 1976. Lorde continued to publish until her death from liver cancer in 1992. (Poetry Foundation, “Audra Lorde, 1934-1992.”)
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Lorde was a self-described "Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet" who dedicated her life and talents to confronting different forms of injustice, as she believed there could be "no hierarchy of oppressions" among "those who share the goals of liberation and a workable future for our children" (Wikipedia, “Audra Lorde.”).
The letter's author, a lesbian activist, Anita Cornwell (1923-2023) was a Philadelphian and lived well into her late 90s. Cornwell is known as the "first Black female writer to publicly identify as a lesbian in print." (Reyes, “Anita Cornwell, Groundbreaking Black Lesbian Feminist Writer, Has Died at 99.”)
In a 1993 interview with Marc Stein of the Philadelphia LGBT History Project, 1940-1980, Cornwell tells of how she first met Lorde the year this letter was written: https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/philadelphia-lgbt-interviews/int/cornwell
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Contributor
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John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives at William Way LGBT Community Center
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Date Created
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1975
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1975-05-03
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Creator
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Cornwell, Anita
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Rights
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http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
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Identifier
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Ms. Coll. 127
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Language
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eng
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Format
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Text
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Extent
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1 page
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Spatial Coverage
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Philadelphia, PA
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Is Part Of
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Anita Cornwell personal and literary papers, 1949-2009
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Subject
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Personal correspondence
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Emotions
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Letter Writing
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American literature--African American authors
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Lesbians
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African American women
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Bibliographic Citation
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Poetry Foundation. “Audra Lorde, 1934-1992.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/audre-lorde.
Wikipedia. “Audra Lorde.” January 8, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde.
Stein, Marc. “Anita Cornwell (1923-2023), Interviewed October 6, 1993.” OutHistory, October 6, 1993. https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/philadelphia-lgbt-interviews/int/cornwell.
Reyes, Juliana Feliciano. “Anita Cornwell, Groundbreaking Black Lesbian Feminist Writer, Has Died at 99.” Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA), June 5, 2023. https://www.inquirer.com/obituaries/anita-cornwell-dies-black-lesbian-feminist-essays-philadelphia-20230605.html.
