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      • On Early Awareness
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      • On Marriage and Children
      • Seeking Professional Help
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    • Profiles >
      • Annalee Stewart
      • Beverly Hickok
      • Jean Mountaingrove
      • Ocie Perry
      • Ruth SIlver
      • Ethyl 'Ricci Cortez' Bronson
      • Betty Shoemaker
      • Vera Martin
  • Newsletter
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  • Old Lesbians, a documentary
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Quotes on Finding Resources 
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Mattie, born 1922

​I went to the library and I found the books I wanted to read. And I took these books up and I said I wanted to check these out. "Well, you can't check these out without an interview with the librarian." And she looked up and said, "Oh, but you're a registered nurse!" and checked them out.


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​Bev, born 1919
You have to remember, this was years ago. Probably in the thirties. No indication, nothing written, no organizations, no books. Had no idea that there was such a thing as a lesbian.


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​Dee, born 1936
I saw this book, The Well of Loneliness, and I said, “Oh, that sounds interesting.” I was ten or twelve, and I remember lying there in that hammock, reading this book, I knew exactly what I was reading. I knew enough not to tell my mother what I was reading. I knew enough not to ask my grandmother where she got the book. I know she didn’t read it, or it would not have been there! From the time I was born, I was called an ‘old soul.’ So, I understood the book. Later, I wondered whether or not I understood about ‘being different’ because I was always the only black person in classes. Then I decided, “No, I don’t think so.”


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​Jo, born 1926
I read a book Cynthia had called Diane. Somebody recommended it, some guy actually.… So that was kind of a Bible in a way. There wasn't much of anything in print. Except The Well of Loneliness. Not helpful.


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​Deedy, born 1922
The only book I read was The Well of Loneliness. And so I thought, "Well, even in fiction they can't make it any better." So I thought, "Who would want this?"


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Kittu, born 1919
I realized that in going to my daughter's, I was probably going to meet the lesbians who were helping care for her, and I had not consciously ever met a lesbian before that I can remember. I had been there two or three days, and as I was sitting in the living room talking to some of the women, I looked around and I thought to myself, “Oh my goodness. I’ll bet every woman in this room with me is a lesbian. What do I do?” I was scared. I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, I was afraid of doing the wrong thing. I had no idea what to say. I was just scared. I tell this story because I want people to know that that was my beginning with the lesbians. I felt sorry for lesbians, because I really thought that their lives must be very miserable because they did not fit into society. I really didn’t know whether I could do anything about how they felt. That was my introduction to it.


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