Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known

by George M. Johnson, Charly Palmer (Illustrator)

Overview

From the New York Times–bestselling author of All Boys Aren’t Blue comes an empowering set of essays about Black and Queer icons from the Harlem Renaissance.

In Flamboyants, George M. Johnson celebrates writers, performers, and activists from 1920s Black America whose sexualities have been obscured throughout history. Through 14 essays, Johnson reveals how American culture has been shaped by icons who are both Black and Queer – and whose stories deserve to be celebrated in their entirety.

Interspersed with personal narrative, powerful poetry, and illustrations by award-winning illustrator Charly Palmer, Flamboyants looks to the past for understanding as to how Black and Queer culture has defined the present and will continue to impact the future. With candid prose and an unflinching lens towards truth and hope, George M. Johnson brings young adult readers an inspiring collection of biographies that will encourage teens today to be unabashed in their layered identities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374391249
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

George M. Johnson (they/them) is an Emmy nominated, award-winning, and bestselling Black nonbinary author and activist. They have written on race, gender, sex, and culture for Essence, the Advocate, BuzzFeed News, Teen Vogue, and more than forty other national publications. George has appeared on BuzzFeed’s AM2DM as well as on MSNBC. They are also a proud HBCU alum twice over and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Their debut memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue, was a New York Times bestseller and garnered many accolades. It was the second-most banned book of 2022 in the United States, according to the American Library Association. For their work fighting book bans and challenges, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) honored George with its Free Speech Defender Award, and TIME Magazine named them one of the “100 Next Most Influential People in the World.” While writing their memoir, George used he/him pronouns. Originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, they now live in Los Angeles, California.

Charly Palmer is a graphic designer, illustrator, and the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award winner for Mama Africa! As a child, he was fascinated by Ezra Jack Keats’s illustrations for The Snowy Day, which inspired Charly’s own use of color and geometric shapes. He studied art and design at the American Academy of Art and the School of the Art Institute, both in Chicago.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/23/2024

Johnson (All Boys Aren’t Blue) combines incisive prose commentary, skewering verse, and revealing memoir in this collection of abridged biographies of Harlem Renaissance–era Black queer luminaries. In an inviting, conversational voice, the author chronicles the intersectional oppression often faced by these icons, whose present-day remembrances “often leaves out their queerness.” Countee Cullen, a poet and an early mentor to James Baldwin, “had to process questions about his sexuality while also being a leader in a heteronormative society.” Featured alongside Cullen are figures who found ways to publicly embrace their sexuality despite the potential for social or legal consequences, such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, who were purportedly very open regarding their relationships with women. Johnson expertly critiques the racism and homophobia experienced by the subjects outside the Black diaspora; he additionally dissects oppressions exerted within the community, as when reportedly bisexual entertainer Josephine Baker banished her son Jarry from her home upon discovering he was gay. Palmer (The Legend of Gravity) combines background textures resembling subway maps and skyscrapers with canvas portraiture to produce graphic and hyperrealistic imagery that harkens to the Harlem Renaissance while maintaining contemporary appeal. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

An Indie Bestseller

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year

"A triumphant." —Shelf Awareness, starred review

"Johnson’s voice fills a void in teen literature, and their newest collection of essays about Black and queer folks from the 1920s unequivocally belongs on shelves across the country... There is no question, this must be purchased, read, and shared." –School Library Journal, starred review

"Flamboyants is not merely a much-needed history lesson, and it’s certainly not standard biographical fare. Johnson puts these figures in conversation with each other and with the present, enriching each essay with personal anecdotes delivered in a witty, conversational tone, and with cultural criticism that draws a direct through line from the Harlem Renaissance to Black queer culture today... Flamboyants suggests that we must see those who came before us as whole people to have any hope of making sense of our present." —BookPage, starred review

"Johnson (All Boys Aren’t Blue) combines incisive prose commentary, skewering verse, and revealing memoir in this collection of abridged biographies of Harlem Renaissance–era Black queer luminaries.... Palmer (The Legend of Gravity) combines background textures resembling subway maps and skyscrapers with canvas portraiture to produce graphic and hyperrealistic imagery that harkens to the Harlem Renaissance while maintaining contemporary appeal." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A sincere and beautifully illustrated ode to queer Black figures who shaped the Harlem Renaissance." —Kirkus

"Punctuated with vibrant paintings and expressive poetry...Through divulging details about how queerness affected their lives, Johnson paints pictures of important people who should serve as a beacon to Black queer people, as they do to the author." —Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 12/30/2024

Gr 9 Up—Johnson's voice fills a void in teen literature, and his newest collection of essays about Black and queer folks from the 1920s unequivocally belongs on shelves across the country. A complement of art from Palmer and Johnson's text profiling these individuals speaks to erasure of their sexuality or their race in the culturally rich time of the Harlem Renaissance. Yet the book is more than a collection of biographies, because Johnson provides his perspective on who they were and how he sees himself through their lives. Deeply moving, the book rewrites history and biography, giving space to knowing the full lives of people, such as Josephine Baker and Zora Neale Hurston. Johnson's creative approach adds an alternative to traditional nonfiction for teen readers that blends commentary and research. This mash-up gives space to think about how people have affected history but also what made it into history books—and who was left out, and why. Contemplative and equally vibrant, each essay is unique, and as a whole, the book shines as an untold history of famous individuals. Read individually or separately in one sitting or spread out, the valuable perspective serves more purpose than just being shared in February and June. VERDICT There is no question, this must be purchased, read, and shared.—Alicia Abdul

School Library Journal

2024-06-15
Johnson, author of the acclaimed memoirAll Boys Aren’t Blue (2020), presents profiles of 12 notable queer Black people from the Harlem Renaissance.

This work introduces readers to figures including Langston Hughes, Ma Rainey, Zora Neale Hurston, and Countee Cullen. Johnson laments growing up learning about “white heterosexual men” who were presented as “our saviors.” They explain that “as a Black queer child, I had the right to know that Black queer people existed before me.…They paved the road for me to walk on. Yet that road was hidden from me and so many others.” This book shines a light on Black figures from “one of the queerest historical periods,” honoring the legacies of these musicians, artists, and authors and offering their lives as representation for the present generation. Throughout the biographies, mostly about five pages in length, Johnson weaves their own personal narrative, drawing parallels between the historical figures and society today. These elements frequently contribute additional layers of depth and relatability, as, for example, with their description of the impact of Josephine Baker’s internalized homophobia on her gay son and Claude McKay’s rejection of elitism within Black nationalism. Johnson’s own poems are interspersed throughout, further illustrating their passion for this history. Double-page spreads featuring Palmer’s vibrantly colored portraits open each narrative, adding further life to the subjects.

A sincere and beautifully illustrated ode to queer Black figures who shaped the Harlem Renaissance. (sources/recommended reading)(Nonfiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews