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The Black Leather Community
The leather community, created for the most part by gay men and soldiers returning home after World War ll, was a society steeped in secrecy. It's members shared a love of motorcycles and leather accoutrements and longed for the familiar military principles and discipline they endured during the war. The term "Old Guard" referred to the first generation of gay leather men who formed these leather communities in the late 1940s and early 1950s and the styles they pioneered. Unfortunately, scant evidence exists regarding the history of people of color within the early stages of the leather community. Interestingly enough, there is no shortage of images of black gay leathersex, which may be largely attributed to the extreme oversexualization of black males by the pornography industry. Today's leather community is accepting of all genders and sexual orientations.
In the 80's leather competitions became a major part of the leather community. Competing in and attending leather contests became a way to comfortably meet others in the lifestyle and titleholders are still held in very high esteem within the community. Ron Moore was the first African-American to ever win the International Mr. Leather in 1984, one of the most coveted titles. He and his sister were the first siblings to both have won and held the two covenant International titles (IML and IMsL) in leather history. In 1993 Graylin Thornton and Gregory Adams organized the first leather competition for people of color in San Francisco called the Ebony in Leather contest. The first contest was won by Jimmy Lee Murray who stepped down at the beginning of his reign because he did not want to do a photo shoot as was required in his contract. He was succeeded by Omar Mosley. The highly popular contest was renamed Mr. Ebony Leather and was run by Cain Berlinger until 2003. The newest contest, The Mr. leatherman of Color contest, organized by Mufasa Ali, debuted during ONYX's blackout weekend in 2004. Their first title winner was John Tatum.
There are quite a few books, newsletters and articles written by and for those in the Black leather community. To Love, to Obey, to Serve: Diary of an Old Guard Slave by African-American author Vi Johnson has become a cult classic within the community. Cain Berlinger is the author of Black Men in Leather, a study on what it means to be Black and a part of the Leather, Fetish, BDSM Community. Black Leather in Color magazine published their first edition in winter of 1994. The NYC based quarterly magazine's goal was to present the people of color images missing in mainstream leather publications and help leathermen and women of color gain acceptance within the leather community.
Jack Jackson (1921-1983) was the president of The Eulenspiegel Society for almost an entire decade since almost its inception in the early 70's. Jackson was a charismatic leader and a self proclaimed "loving sadist". He also took many of the photographs and ads featured in TES's Prometheus magazine.
The first leather organizations for men of color such as "L.A. Brotherhood" and "Brothers in Leather" were formed as early as the 1980s but most have since faded away. In the fall of 1995, one of the most prominent leather clubs for people of color, ONYX (Men of ONYX, Inc) joined the SM, leather, fetish community in Chicago. Founded by Mufasa Ali, the goal of ONYX is to provide an informational and social organization to address issues specific to men of color who choose to discuss and/or participate in the lifestyle. In September 1999 another prominent club, The New York Panthers Leather Club, founded by John K, was formed for men of color in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area who are interested and involved in leather and BDSM activities. And most recently, in 2003, Maji of Baltimore was created for men of color in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area who are interested and involved in the leather lifestyle.
Leather organizations created specifically for women of color are slim to nonexistent. However, there are several black women of note who hold prestigious leather titles. Vi Johnson is one of the most well known African-American women in the Leather Community. A lifestyle slave, author and vampire, Johnson has been active for over two decades as an activist, writer, and educator and has been dubbed "mother" by a whole generation of leather men and women. She is slave and wife of Jill Carter and husband to Queen Cougar (former Ms. San Francisco Leather, 1993 and winner of the Pantheon of Leather "Reader’s Choice Woman of the Year 2000".) From her journals kept while living as a slave and vampire, Johnson authored two autobiographical books Dhampir, Child of The Blood and To Love, To Obey, To Serve, Diary of an Old Guard Slave. Her work has been published in Some Women (the Anthology) and various leather magazines such as Dominant Mystique, Black Leather in Color, Passion, The Link, Black Mistress Review, Black Amazon Digest, Ouch, Obeya, and Bitches with Whips.
The Ms. World Leather 2003 contest was the first time in any international leather contest that two African-American Women stood on the same stage as winner, Goddess Lakshimi, and first runner up, Daddie Millarca.
Although the leather scene is available to all sexual orientations and genders, most heterosexuals felt the need to form their own groups....
