Welcome to IHS’s Great Pride Giveaway!
June is a special month for us at IHS Headquarters because it’s Pride season. Which means rainbows galore! That makes us truly happy because one of our missions in life is to spread rainbows and to show our pride every single day.
PRIDE PHOTO
TB here. For most of my life, I’d never been one to enjoy costumes. Which was why when I asked readers to help us achieve a goal, I set a goal high thinking I wouldn’t have to go through with wearing a tutu. But the readers came through. So, I planned this outfit to match their enthusiasm. Which is why I ended up with rainbow leggings, suspenders, and fascinator (the thing on my head). I learned a valuable lesson dressing up that day. Seeing me act silly made people happy. Since then, I’ve done it more and more. Not only do we need more rainbows in the world, but we also need more queer happiness.
GREAT PRIDE EBOOK GIVEAWAY
We asked authors to donate eBooks for a massive giveaway and wowzers, so many authors are taking part. Every day in June, there will be a new eBook giveaway. So not only will you see another pride photo, but you can enter to win loads of eBooks!
A few things about the giveaway. They’re open internationally. Authors will be responsible for delivering the eBooks. You WILL NOT be signed up to anyone’s newsletter when you enter.
Today’s giveaway has 57 books involved. One winner will be selected on June 23. That’s right. One lucky reader will get 57 books!
THE JUNE 19 WINNER HAS BEEN NOTIFIED
We’re thrilled to announce the nineteenth Great Pride Giveaway winner has been sent an email. They won 58 eBooks featured on June 19, 2025.
The winner for June 20 will be selected tomorrow. There’s still time to enter by clicking here. Don’t wait. It closes later today.
QUEER TRIVIA
Before we get to all the wonderful books involved in today’s giveaway, we want to share some queer trivia. It’s the former historian and teacher that compels TB to pull together the daily trivia. So many amazing and brave people in history paved the way for the rest of us. The fight isn’t over, but while we keep showing up it’s important to remember those who came before us.
Here’s today’s trivia:
She was born on July 19, 1875, in New Orleans, Louisiana, into a family with a complex racial and ethnic background. Her mother had been enslaved in the past, and her upbringing in the South during the post-Reconstruction era had a significant influence on her later works.
Growing up in a city with a history of mixed-race relationships, her identity as both Black and Creole shaped her perspectives on race, identity, and social norms. These themes would later appear in her writing.
She graduated from the teaching program at Straight University (which later merged into Dillard University) in 1892 after years of exceptional academic performance and demonstrated her musical talent by playing the cello, piano, and mandolin. At just 17 years old, she began working as a teacher in the New Orleans public school system at Old Marigny Elementary. She lived in New Orleans for twenty-one years.
Her early activism focused on empowering Black women through education, journalism, and civic engagement. In 1894, she became a charter member of the Phillis Wheatley Club in New Orleans, where she contributed her writing skills. She also worked with the monthly newspaper of the Woman’s Era Club, The Woman’s Era, which was the first newspaper created for and by African American women. Aimed at refined and educated readers, the publication gave her an entry point into journalism and marked the beginning of her career as both a writer and activist.
In 1895, The Monthly Review published her first collection of short stories and poems, Violets and Other Tales. Although the collection received some criticism, she remained determined to succeed as a writer. Pursuing a career in writing, she moved to Boston in the late 1890s. In 1897, after relocating to New York City, she co-founded and taught at the White Rose Mission, also known as the White Rose Home for Girls, in Manhattan’s San Juan Hill neighborhood.
From 1913 to 1914, she served as co-editor and writer for the A.M.E. Church Review, an influential publication produced by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Beginning in 1920, she coedited the Wilmington Advocate, a progressive Black newspaper. She also published The Dunbar Speaker and Entertainer, a literary anthology created for a Black audience.
Starting around 1920, she became a successful columnist, with her articles, essays, and reviews appearing in newspapers, magazines, and academic journals. She was also a popular speaker and maintained a busy schedule of lectures throughout these years.
In addition to her published work, she kept personal diaries that revealed her romantic relationships with women, even though she was married to men. According to Timeline, her lovers included Edwina B. Kruse, the principal of a school where she once taught, journalist Fay Jackson, and artist Helene London.
She passed away from a heart condition on September 18, 1935, at the age of 60.
Do you know her name? The answer can be found below all the books.
TODAY’S ENTRY FORM:
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NOW FOR ALL THE BOOKS IN THE GIVEAWAY
Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom for today’s trivia answer!
