Faye Williams, founder of Sisterspace and Books in Washington, D.C. has spent her adult life organizing in support of her community and actively resisting
racism, fascism, and other antidemocratic forces.
Merril Mushroom came out in the 1950s in Miami Beach, Florida, where she experienced homophobia and racism while learning the rules of being butch or femme. A lifelong butch, she has written scores of articles about lesbian life, including a play, Bar Dykes, that has been produced in San Francisco, California; New York City; and other cities in between. Her interview describes growing up Jewish in a city with signs saying “No Jews Allowed,” teaching elementary school in Harlem in the 1960s, and moving to rural middle Tennessee, where she has lived since the 1970s.
A dedicated woman’s journey, making her way from the segregated south, through the civil rights movement, into today’s complex lesbian feminist environment.
“Black people are my people, gay folk are my people, and church people are my people.”