Ann Allen Shockley

Shockley also has many short stories that she has written, most of which center around the issues surrounding homosexuality, being African American, and being a woman. Through these short stories, Shockley sheds light on the conditions in which these people live and the impact these conditions have on their lives. A few of these short stories include "Holly Craft Isn't Gay"(1980), "A Meeting of Sapphic Daughters" (Spring 1979) which can be found in The Black and White of It (1980), as well as "The Eternal Triangle"(1948), "The Curse of Kapa"(1951), and "Monday Will Be Better"(1964), posted in various outlets such as Afro-American [Baltimore] and Negro Digest. Most of Shockley's short stories were controversial for their time.

The Black and White of It (1980), although generally unknown, received better response from critics as well as her short story collection Say Jesus and Come to Me (1982). Say Jesus and Come to Me in particular was said to introduce and recognize a character that typically lacks representation and appeared on the Christopher Street best seller's list, however Shockley was still criticized for her writing style and lack of structure in the stories. The collection takes a focus on the character Reverend Black, a lesbian aged forty who tries to hide her sexuality. Shockley claimed to have written the piece in order to shed light on the black church's hypocrisy of shaming homosexuals yet partaking in all other acts deemed as sins.

Shockley was awarded the Lee Lynch Classics Award for her novel Loving Her, originally published in 1974 and republished in 2014. The award was awarded in 2019 as a part of the 15th Annual Goldie Literary Awards held by the United States's only lesbian literary organization, the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS).

Although recognized by authors such as Alice Walker, who gave Loving Her praise in her review of the novel in 1974 as well as Nellie McKay and Rita B. Dandridge who have acknowledged the writer, Shockley's fictional works has been often ignored by the masses if not criticized. Shockley herself attributes this lack of recognition due to the subject matter that she writes about. She claims that works addressing lesbian themes were rare at the time, as most publishers were not interested and writers were too fearful to admit to their own sexuality to push for publishing.

Shockley worked as a librarian at Delaware State College and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, before working for Special Negro Collection at Fisk University in 1969. She served as a professor of library science, university archivist, as well as an associate librarian for special collections at Fisk and founded the Black Oral History Program until she later retired in 1988. Throughout her career, Shockley published several books on librarianship and special collections, particularly related to African-American collections. She became a writer of more than thirty short stories, novels, and articles that address issues of racism and homophobia.

She married teacher William Shockley in 1948, and had two children named William Leslie Jr. and Tamara Ann. The couple later divorced but Shockley kept her ex-husband's last name.

Throughout July 1945 through March 1954, Shockley worked as a freelance newspaper columnist. She has several works in newspaper columns documented in Louisville Defender, Fisk University Herald, Federalsburg [MD] Times, and Bridgeville [DE] News that centered primarily around issues in the African American community and LGBT community. Her writings can be found under "Mostly Teen Talk", "Duffy's Corner", and "Ebony's Topics".

Ann Allen Shockley (born June 21, 1927) is an American journalist and author, specialising in themes of interracial lesbian love, especially the plight of black lesbians living under what she views as the ‘triple oppression’ of racism, sexism, and homophobia. She has also encouraged libraries to place special emphasis on Afro-American collections.

Shockley was born in 1927 in Louisville, Kentucky. Shockley was encouraged to read and write creatively at a young age and was heavily influenced by Richard Wright's short story form in Uncle Tom's Children. Her eighth grade teacher, Harriet La Forest, was said to serve as Shockley's early mentor and had a large influence on Shockley's writing. She started writing for an audience in high school, where she worked as the editor for her school's newspaper. She continued to work as a journalist and column writer for various newspapers in her undergraduate studies and later graduated with a bachelor's degree from Fisk University in 1948. Shockley went on to receive her master's degree in library science from Case Western Reserve University in 1959.