Anita Cornwell (born September 23, 1923)[1] is an American author.In 1983 she wrote the first collection of essays by an African American lesbian, Black Lesbian in White America.[2]
Born in Greenwood, South Carolina, Cornwell moved to Pennsylvania at age sixteen, living first in Yeadon with her aunt, then in Philadelphia with her mother,[1] who moved north when Anita was eighteen. She attended Temple University, graduating in 1948.[1][3] She worked as a journalist for local newspapers and a clerical worker for government agencies.[1]
Cornwell has had work published in Feminist Review, Labrynth, National Leader, Los Angeles Free Press and The Negro Digest, were among the first to identify the author as a black lesbian.