A safe, empowering space for Black gay men to connect, read, and grow together.
📅 Once a Month on Zoom
🧘🏿♂️ Every session begins with a guided meditation inspired by themes from our reading.
📚 What We Read:
One short article, essay, or story AND
One longer novel or nonfiction book monthly.
All selections center on the lives, voices, and experiences of Black gay men.
🌱 What You’ll Gain:
A supportive, judgment-free space.
Deeper connection to yourself and others.
Insightful conversations and personal growth.
Book Club Ground Rules
A gathering for Black gay men who want to read, reflect, and root together.
Reading the book is not required. Come whether you’ve read the whole thing, a few pages, or nothing at all. This is a space for human connection, not performance.
We are a social club first. We use the book to spark conversation, not control it. We value presence over perfection, connection over completion.
This space is exclusively for Black gay men. All attendees should identify as such. No exceptions.
Come when and how you can. We honor real life. If you’re late, come anyway. If you miss a session, come back. Your belonging isn’t conditional.
Speak for yourself. Use “I” statements. No advice unless asked. No need to summarize or sound smart. Your truth is enough.
Listen with generosity. Let people finish. Sit with discomfort. Make room for difference without debate.
Confidentiality is sacred. What’s shared in the circle stays in the circle. Trust is non-negotiable.
Engage with curiosity, not certainty. We are here to learn, unlearn, and grow, not to be right.
Bring your full self. Emotions, contradictions, laughter, softness. Yes to all of it.
Keep showing up. This is about rhythm, not rigidity. We grow in community over time.
August 20th
New York simmers with heat and unrest as Wyeth, a painter, finds himself at an impasse in his own work.
After attending a dubious show put on by a collective of careerist artists, he retreats to a bar in the West Village where he meets Keating, a former seminarian. Over the long summer, as the two get to know each another, they talk and argue about God, sex, and art.
Meanwhile, at his job working for an art restorer, Wyeth begins to investigate the life and career of a forgotten, minor black artist. His search yields potential answers to questions that Wyeth is only now beginning to ask about what it means to be a black artist making black art amid the mess and beauty of life itself.
Minor Black Figures is a vividly etched portrait, both sweeping and tender, of friendship, creativity, belief, and the deep connections among them.
Your Co-Facilitator:
Jeffrey Charles Fleming, is an actor, educator, and published author. As a proud Alumnus of Howard University and a native of Richmond, VA, and a million other life experiences along the way, he is proud to add this experience of reading books with members of his community. As a current resident in the Nation’s Capital, he enjoys singing with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, working out in the gym, spending time with family and friends and his babies at home: Treasure (turtle), Jesse, Jamal and Josiah (plants.) He thanks all of his family and friends for their love and support. Follow him on Instagram: @Sonofhoward
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