This panel will explore African American cultural and social movements in the mid to late-twentieth century. Paul Michael Thomson’s paper, titled "Revolting Queers: Gender, Sexuality, and the Theatre of the Black Arts Movement", examines plays by Amiri Baraka, Lorraine Hanbserry, and other playwrights in order to unsettle notions of pure homophobia in the drama of the Black Arts Movement. Jia Zhang’s paper examines lesbian and pro-lesbian gender practice and the impact of the New Left revolutionary ideologies in the formation of non-heterosexual and pro-non-heterosexual socialist feminist organizations from the 1960s to the 1980s era. It aims to understand the role of gender and sexuality in the identity construction of lesbian socialist feminism.