Angela Bowen

Bowen was born on February 6, 1936 in Boston, Massachusetts in an African-American family.[1][2] She lost her father at the age of 2.[2] Bowen trained and taught at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Roxbury from age 14 to 22.[1][3]

Bowen graduated from the College of Public and Community Service at University of Massachusetts Boston, where she earned a bachelor's degree.[1][4] She earned a master's degree and a PhD from Clark University, where she wrote the first dissertation about Audre Lorde: "Who Said it was Simple:  Audre Lorde’s Complex Connections to Three U.S. Liberation Movements, 1952-1992”[1][3] The final chapter, "All These Liberations", is included in The Wind is Spirit: The Life, Love, and Legacy of Audre Lorde, a Lambda Award winning bio/anthology by Gloria Joseph.[3]

Bowen co-founded the Bowen/Peters School of Dance in New Haven, Connecticut in the 1960s. It closed down in 1982.[2] She became a gay rights activist and served on the board of the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays.[1][2]

Bowen was a professor of English and Women's Studies at California State University, Long Beach.[2] She was the subject of the 2016 documentary, The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen,[2] by Jennifer Abod and Mary Duprey.[5] which won Best Documentary in the "Women's History U.S." category at the 2017 To the Contrary About Women and Girls film festival.[6]

In addition to being subject of books and documentaries, Bowen was an accomplished writer in her life.

Bowen first married Ken Peters in the 1960s; they had three children.[1][2] They divorced in the 1980s, when she came out as a lesbian.[2] In 2013, she married Jennifer Abod.[1] She suffered from Alzheimer's disease.[2]

Bowen died on July 12, 2018 in Long Beach, California, at 82.[1][2]