Lorraine & Molly & Mary
Lorraine Hansberry and Molly Malone Cook had a relationship in the late 1950s, while Lorraine was writing A Raisin in the Sun. When Lorraine and Molly were together, both interracial marriage and gay marriage were illegal in most states, and Lorraine was under extensive FBI surveillance for her radical writing and activist work.[1] Their love could not be visible — and yet, we have photos. Molly’s photographs become an act of resistance, an insistence on the easily lost intimacies of historic lesbian love.
After her relationship with Lorraine ended, Molly met Mary Oliver. They went on to be partners for decades, joined in what Mary described in their memoir Our World as a “40 year conversation.” [2] In their beloved Provincetown, Molly and Mary built a world together —two people in love with nature, with art, and with each other.
What can Molly’s photographs of her lovers show us about the sort of shapes queer love takes, especially when visibility and/or traditional marriage are not options? Can we perhaps instead view queer love as creating a world together?
[2] Molly Malone, and Mary Oliver. Our World. Beacon Press, 2009.