Pomo Afro Homos short for postmodern African American homosexuals, was an African-American gay theater troupe founded in San Francisco by choreographer-dancer Djola Bernard Branner, actor Brian Freeman, and singer, dancer, and actor Eric Gupton. Later, Marvin K. White joined the group. They presented the black

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 gay male

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 experience. Their pieces include: Fierce Love: Stories From Black Gay Life and Dark Fruit.

Fame and controversy

The group performed at Lincoln Center and elsewhere nationally.

In 1991, the National Black Theatre Festival

National Black Theatre Festival

The National Black Theatre Festival was founded in 1989 by Larry Leon Hamlin in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Serving as its executive director, Hamlin’s goal in creating the Festival was "to unite black theatre companies in America to ensure the survival of the genre into the next millennium"...

 (North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

) banned the group.

In 1993, Out North, a theater company in Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...

, invited them to perform in Anchorage. Out North attempted to purchase advertising from the city bus company for "Fierce Love." The bus company, backed by then-mayor Tom Fink

Tom Fink

Thomas A. "Tom" Fink is a Republican politician in Alaska. He was Mayor of Anchorage from 1987-1994 and Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1973-1975. He is also a former member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board after being appointed by President George W...

, rejected the ads. Later, the mayor attempted to cancel Out North's municipal funding. The city council overrode the Mayor's veto.

Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

offers a course titled Black Lavender: A Study of Black Gay and Lesbian Plays, and Dramatic Constructions in the American Theatre which studies the works of Pomo Afro Homos among others.