Credit only granted for LGBT448L or AASP498Y or AMST498D. Taking an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach to LGBTQ+ Studies and Black Studies we will center Blackness to meditate upon the overlapping and interwoven categories of race, gender, and sexuality - with the goal of decoupling whiteness from LGBTQ+ studies and decoupling heterosexuality from Black studies. We will look at texts from literature, film, history, and the social sciences in order to trace topical trajectories of Black queer thought. Throughout we will considerhow Black queer liberation can, and has, provided tools and a guide for our collective liberation.