Black queer people have always shaped history, says George M. Johnson. Their stories can help us find a better way forward.

In their new book, Flamboyants, this TIME100 Next honoree tells the stories of the unsung Black queer heroes of the Harlem Renaissance, from poet Langston Hughes to children’s writer Countee Cullen. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly praises George’s “incisive prose commentary, skewering verse, and revealing memoir.”

“These figures aren’t just our past, but help us to understand our present—and give us the roadmap for our future,” George says. “It’s like the butterfly effect: a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world can cause a hurricane in another part of the world. These figures did something, no matter how big or small. And whatever that “something” was likely made someone else do something, that made someone else do something, that 100 years later got to you. Now it’s time for you to do the next something.”

In talks, George draws on their books and experience to offer stories from the past and lessons for the future. Audiences of all ages walk away inspired by the heroes that have gone before, and prepared to do the next something that will take us closer to a future where we are all able to share our full identities.