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Ann Allen Shockley
(June 21, 1927 - living) U.S.A.

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Writer, editor, critic, librarian

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Born in Loisville, Kentucky, the daughter of African-American social workers, she was educated at Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, where she also later worked as a librarian, and professor, and were she gained a BA in 1948. In 1949 she married William Shockley, a teacher, whom she has since divorced. She has a son and a daughter. She then attended Western Reserve (now Case Western Reserve) in Cleveland, Ohio, receiving an MSLS in 1959.

In addition to her career as a writer, Ann Allen Shockley has been a librarian and archivist at Delaware State University, the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, and most recently at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she now resides.

Ann is the award-winning author of six books of fiction and non-fiction. She was the first writer to feature an African-American lesbian as its major character, Loving Her, 1974. Shockley was also the first black author of a collection of lesbian short stories, The Black and White of It, 1980. Her articles have raised the issue of Black lesbian invisibility and racism within the lesbian community. She also published Celebrating Hotchclaw, 2006.

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