Culture and the Arts – Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

Mandy Carter at the Center of a Lesbian-Feminist Activist Hotbed

Mandy Carter Photo by Bill Bamberger. Used with permission.

Mandy Carter, Southern Black lesbian activist and worker for the War Resisters League, marched for peace, helped start SONG, and coproduced Rhythm Fest, a “workers festival.”

Posted on June 9, 2025 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises, Social and Political Groups, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services Tagged with activist, AFSC, American Friends Service Committee High School Work Camp, Black pride, Durham North Carolina, HBCU, Highlander Center, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Institute for the Study of Non-Violence, Ladyslipper, lesbian feminist, National Lesbian and Gay Task Force, NLGTF, Pocono Mountains Pennsylvania, pride celebrations, Quakers, Real Women Productions, Rhythm Fest, SONG, southern, Southerners on New Ground, TALF, Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists, Triangle Black Pride, War Resisters League, WRL

Kathleen “Corky” Culver: Activist, Organizer, Filmmaker, Landyke, Poet

Corky Culver has been a leader and a documenter since the early days of modern lesbian feminism, cofounding a women’s land group, organizing cultural and political events (especially peace activism), publishing poetry, and singing with others at every possible opportunity.

Posted on April 14, 2025 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian Land Groups, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Social and Political Groups, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services, Spirituality and Religion Tagged with Abby Bogomolny, Blue Lunden, C.A. Culver, Cathy Drompp, chem-free, consciousness-raising, consensus decision-making, Corky Culver, CR group, croning, Culla Culver, Denise Matthews, documentary filmmaking, Donna Dyke, Dore Rotundo, FAN, FAN Feminist Action Network, feminist, Feminist Action Network, Ferron, Finding the Well, Flash Silvermoon, Gainesville Florida, Gractia Culver, Harvard Film Archive, Joan Larkin, Julia Dragonfly, Kathleen Anne Walsh, Kathleen Culver, Katura Carey, Kentucky, LEAP, lesbian, lesbian archives, lesbian CR group, lesbian feminism, Lesbian Home Movie Project, lesbian websites, Lesbians Empowered for Action and Politics, Lorelei Esser, Marie Steinwachs, Michigan Womyn’s Music Festivals, Minnie Bruce Pratt, North Forty, Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project, Red House, rural lesbians, Ruth Dreamdigger, Savannah River Peace Camp, Sharon Thompson, slfahp, southern, Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project, SPARC Sexual and Physical Abuse Resource Center, The Natural Law of Water, Theresa Carr, Thoreau, women’s land, Women’s Peace Walk, Women’s Renaissance Festival

Mendy Knott: The Writer’s Life on the Mountain

Mendy Knott, North Carolina poet, reflecting her experiences as a former police officer, military veteran, and Southern preacher’s kid. She is an award-winning screenplay writer, too.

Posted on January 20, 2025 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers Tagged with A Little Lazarus, academic poets, Across the ARK-LA-TEX: A Cross Family Cookbook, alcoholic, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg Tennessee, Asheville North Carolina, Asheville Womens Chorus, Austin Texas, Burnsville North Carolina, butch lesbian, Climbing Mt Pisgah, cultural mecca, DeKalb County at Emory University, Down and Dirty, downtown church Jubilee, fantasy novel, Fayetteville Arkansas, Goddess Festival, HOWL, In My Dreams, Jackson Mississippi, Leigh Knott, Leigh Wilkerson, lesbian feminist cultural center, lesbians, Malaprops Bookstore, married, Matinee, mecca for lesbians, Men Only Screenplay, Mendy Knott, military veteran, Minden Louisiana, mountains, Peacework, Peggy Seeger, performance poets, poet, poetry chapbooks, Poets Under the Maples, Police Academy, police officer, poppyseed cake, post apocalyptic, Presbyterian ministers family, Raising Voices: A Café of Our Own Anthology, raped in the military, Rhodes in Memphis, S M sexuality, screenplay writer, screwed over by a lesbian press, sexuality, slam poets, sober, Southern preachers kid, Southern Sin: True Stories of the Sultry South and Women Behaving Badly, street poets, tattoo, The Pentaculum, University of Memphis, US Air Force, violence against women, Voice Like a Hammer: Women Respond to 9 11, Womansong, womens open mic, womens voices, Womonwrites, write a novel, writer

Lenny Lasater: Coal Miner, Electrician, Musician, and Renaissance Butch

Lenny Lasater Photo credit Candi Pollitt

Lenny Lasater was a trailblazer for women, first in the Birmingham coal mines, then, in the trade union for electricians, The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, when she was in Nashville, Tennessee, and later, in Atlanta, Georgia. She formed her own business, Lenny Lasater Electrical, in Atlanta, where she also got clean and sober. Also, she started a band that is now called “Just Roxie.” Throughout, she has been out and proud of who she is, “a very butch lesbian.”

Posted on September 7, 2024 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises Tagged with Atlanta, Birmingham Alabama, Blue Creek number 3, Cherry Omega, Decatur Georgia, Georgia, IBEW, IEW 429, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Nashville Local Union 429, Jim Walter Modular Homes, Jimmy Carter, Just Roxie, Knoxville, Metropolitan Community Church, Nashville, pipefitters union, Savannah River Plant, Tennessee, These Friends of Mine, trade unions, United Mineworkers Local

Category: Culture and the Arts

Mandy Carter at the Center of a Lesbian-Feminist Activist Hotbed

Kathleen “Corky” Culver: Activist, Organizer, Filmmaker, Landyke, Poet

Mendy Knott: The Writer’s Life on the Mountain

Lenny Lasater: Coal Miner, Electrician, Musician, and Renaissance Butch