Pride Highlight: E. Lyn Harris
Hello My ATMS, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and is looking forward to a productive week ahead with new possibilities.
This Pride moment belongs to New York Times Best Sellers Author E. Lyn Harris (June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009).He was widely known for his portrayals of African-American men who were on the down-low and closeted. THe Down-Low term is an African-American slang term used within the African-American community that typically refers to a sexual subculture of Black men who usually identify as heterosexual but actively seek sexual encounters and relations with other men, practice gay cruising, and frequently wear specific hip-hop attire during these activities. They generally avoid disclosing their same-sex sexual activities, even if they have female sexual partner(s), they are married to a woman, or they are single. He authored ten consecutive books that made The New York Times Best Seller list, making him among the most successful African-American or gay authors of his era. Born in Flint, Michigan, then later moved to Little Rock, Arkansas with his mother and Step father but when he was 13 years old, his mother divorced his stepfather who had abused Harris for years. Pushing forward and focusing on his goals he became one of the first African-American students at Forest Heights Junior High and Hall High School in Little Rock. He also was the first black male cheerleader as well as the first black yearbook editor while attending the University of Arkansas.
During a point in his life, he did attempted suicide during a dark time dealing with depression and heavy drinking but later found the will to live through his writing. Hence, he created ten of his novels that achieved New York Times bestseller status. These novels were:
Invisible Life
Just As I Am
And This Too Shall Pass
If This World Were Mine
Abide With Me
Not A Day Goes By
Any Way the Wind Blows
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted: A Memoir
A Love of My Own
I Say A Little Prayer
Just Too Good to Be True
Basketball Jones
Mama Dearest
In My Father's House
No One in the World
Harris died on July 23,2009 in Los Angeles, California at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from heart disease complicated by a hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure. This was confirmed by the Office of the Los Angeles County Coroner.
In June 2019, Harris was one of the inaugural fifty American “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes” inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City’s Stonewall Inn which is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history.
We thank E. Lyn Harris for his contributions of literature for the world to read and enjoy. If you have read any of E. Lyn Harris books and would like to share your thoughts, please feel free to comment below. Later My ATMS and Remember:
Show love, Be Love and Know that you are Loved.