Cheryl Clarke is one of the lesser known black feminist community rights activists. Some have compared her to Audre Lorde. She is a queer, feminist, African-American woman who is also a poet.
Being a writer is something that Cheryl does best. She has written multiple books of poetry and prose. Her best-known work out of all of the poetry and prose that she has written is, "After Mecca": Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement. This work investigates the role of black women writers and poets in the Black Arts Movement.
"After Mecca" shows that feminist women, including queer women, can make changes in a heterosexist and sexist society by using some of the same tactics that were used in the Black Arts Movement. She shows that they can use these tactics in order to further their own movement.
Clarke speaks for not only African American women, but queer African American women as well. Her works have contributed to understanding the intellectual production of queer women in the Black Arts Movement and to queer women of color today (Lambda Literary).