Angela Bowen

Photo via Bridgewater State University, Article 23

Angela Bowen (1936 - 2018) was a dance teacher, writer, lesbian rights activist and English professor. Before coming out she co-founded the Bowen/Peters School of Dance with her husband in New Haven, Connecticut in 1963. After the schools closure in 1982, Bowen came out as a lesbian and began her journey as an activist.

Though she was the co-chair and editor of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, and was one of the first to receive a Ph.D in Women’s Studies in the US; Bowen was known mostly from her award-winning documentary “The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen”, directed by her parter Jennifer Abod.

Something I found interesting is that she’d donated archives to Spelman College, which also holds Lorde’s archive. There was no online access, but I hope we could get access to the physical archives one day!