Echo of Sappho, Nos. 1, 3-4 [Black, working-class, Brooklyn lesbians]

Brooklyn: Sisters of Liberation, 1972-1973. Three volumes. No. 1, offset on newsprint, 11 x 17 in. 16 pp; Nos. 3 and 4 each 8 ½ x 11 in. unbound in self-wraps, as issued. Each 32 pp. Illustrated throughout. Very good to near fine, with remarkably little wear. Item #10341

Three of the five issues released of this exceedingly rare anonymous radical lesbian periodical published in Brooklyn in 1972 and 1973, foregrounding the narratives of Black and working class lesbians, an editorial focus rarely observed in the world of lesbian periodicals in the early 1970s.

The first issue explains that “This paper is for lesbians, feminists, and men who wish to free themselves from sexism” and “to show all sides of lesbianism without bias: political non-political; social non-social”; it is notable for foregrounding women of color, and for frank, sex-positive discourse, particularly around S&M in the lesbian community, a major focus of the final issue.

Each issue also includes an extensive list of gay and lesbian resources, bookstores, and newsletters, including the gay and lesbian switchboards, Riis Beach, the Women’s Print Shop, and organizations around the country, including the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union - the organization from which the pre-Roe women’s abortion counseling service, the Janes, was founded.

The periodical is also notable for focusing on Black lesbian organizing, discussing race and class issues explicitly and frequently, and for illustrations depicting of women of color present throughout each issue. The journal also provides information about and discussions of queer spaces outside the circuit of downtown Manhattan gay bars and bookstores, highlighting organizations active in the South Bronx, Washington Heights, Flatbush, and Crown Heights.

We are unable to locate much information about the periodical or its publishers, “Sisters of Liberation.” Listing no author names, the publishing collective used a P.O. box as their address, with a 11217 zip code, covering much of what is now Boerum Hill, but was then known as North Gowanus - a neighborhood with large Black, Latinx, and Mohawk Nation populations, then in the midst of wave of gentrification highlighted by the beginnings of the “brownstoner” movement.

A rare glimpse into working class lesbian socialisms and geographies not often included in histories of lesbian New York. OCLC locates 2 holdings of any issues as of October 2024, with numerous digital and microform copies.

“Some white women have a tendency to think all black women are butches not realizing they had to fight harder to survive.”

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