She is dreaming she is working on the slave plantation with her mother when a white man sneaks up on her and attempts to rape her. In this scene, Gilda is a child on the run from the slave plantation and is sleeping in a farm. One of the best examples of how the vampire mythology represents Gilda occurs at the start of the book. Both Bird and Gilda’s situation represents black women, Indigenous women, and QTPOC who can find comfort with other black women, Indigenous women and QTPOC, but not with sexist and homophobic people of color or racist white people. Since the initiation of humans as vampires involves sharing the blood of another vampire, the vampires have formed a community that functions as family and lovers. However, it is with the vampires that they feel the most peace, because they are among those who “share the blood”. They also manage to find peace among other vampires and humans who are Othered in some way. Despite being Othered, Gilda and Bird reclaim their bodies and preserve their souls while never forgetting where they came from. For them, becoming a vampire represents the transformation from a victim of oppression to a woman with power. In fact, the vampire mythology is especially relatable to the escaped slave, Gilda, and the Lakota woman, Bird. This idea is particularly reinforced in the way that the vampires must carry the soil of their birthplace with them in order to move in the sunlight. They were once human and can move among humans, but can never truly be part of them. This draws on their previous lives as humans to remind them of their obligation to humanity while nourishing their immortality. In this book, most of the vampires just take the blood they need from humans and leave a good idea or thought in its place. One of the most incredible aspects of the book is the use of the vampire mythology. From there, the new Gilda spends the next 200 years learning to live, love, and protect her freedom. Eventually, The Girl is initiated as a vampire by Gilda and Bird and christened Gilda after the original Gilda dies. After being taken in by a white lesbian vampire brothel owner named Gilda, The Girl learns about freedom from the other women at the brothel and Bird, a vampire woman from the Lakota tribe and Gilda’s lover. The Gilda Stories tells the story of an escaped slave originally known as The Girl.

At its 25 th anniversary, The Gilda Stories is an amazing introduction to the power of black female queer vampires. While the story featured the same protagonist in The Gilda Stories and reads like a chapter from the book, the story wasn’t published until nine years after the book was. I first learned about Jewelle Gomez and her book The Gilda Stories through the short story Chicago 1927.

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez