The Work My Soul Was Called to Do

Abstract

This chapter considers the role that art and political organizing play in the lives of Black, queer, Southern women. Defining art broadly—as baking, playing instruments, or writing creatively—Johnson makes visible their contributions to Black, Southern culture. The narrators discuss their impetuses for creating art, how being queer in the South impacts their creations, and how their works have developed over time. The chapter is divided into two sections: in the first, the narrators theorize about how their art and sexuality are related, and in the second, they talk frankly about the various ways that they stay politically involved.