THE NATION'S LARGEST AFRICAN AMERICAN ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE
June 29, 2018 - Vol. 1, Issue 39
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Brown in the Rainbow?: Remembering Stonewall
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The LGBTQ Pride Flag with brown and black stripes
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Forty-nine years ago, a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village, incited a riot that persisted for several days. Newspaper publisher
John Jacob “Jake” Oliver
was living in the city at the time. He remembered streets marked by
“
total chaos,” although he only realized the significance of the event years later.
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Queer people of color confront overt racism in both straight and non-straight spaces. In addition, as documented by the Human Rights Campaign, LGBTQ African Americans are more frequently exposed to issues of economic insecurity, violence & harassment, HIV & health inequity, and religious intolerance.
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However, the LGBTQ community's acknowledgement of intersectionality is more noticeable than even a decade ago. HistoryMaker and best-selling fiction writer
E. Lynn Harris--
whose first book, ‘Invisible Life,’ was patterned after his experiences of sexual discovery
--
spoke in his interview about the misconceptions of same-sex love:
“People were so surprised that being gay was about as much as wanting love in your life as being straight was…They always equate it with sex…So I don’t think people realize or recognize that. And I’ve finally come to the conclusion, or to the understanding that that’s okay, because it’s not who they are. You know, it’s not for them to understand as clearly as I do.”
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Yet, the erasure of people of color from accounts and representations of historical events like Stonewall continues to be problematic. As suggested by Elena Kiesling in ‘The Missing Colors of the Rainbow: Black Queer Resistance,’ Stonewall “has become a highly marketed moment” and “is not remembered as one moment in a series of events confronting violence against those most marginalized--queers and of color--staged by those most affected by state-sanctioned violence.”
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Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Suzanna M. Crage also problematize frequent understandings of Stonewall and its relevance to the gay liberation movement. They claim that the “story” of Stonewall speaks more to collective memory, and “is thus better viewed as an
achievement
of gay liberation rather than as a literal account of its origins.”
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In her interview,
Leola “Roscoe” Dellums
addressed the marginalization of blackness across social movements. She recalls: “
The black agenda, which was like very basic if we’re talking about the history of our country--there were so many things that had never been addressed
.” Dellums went on to underscore the subjugation of black voices to the majority-white leadership:
“What happened is, we, in a very naïve way, built those coalitions; and when you coalesce, if you’re not coalescing from strength…you get taken.”
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Dellums’ and other African Americans’ experience of “internal regulation” can be considered “advanced marginalization”--defined by political scientist Cathy J. Cohen as the incorporation of “dominant norms and values into the culture, ideology, and consciousness of marginal group members, resulting in a form of internal regulation.”
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Civil rights attorney
Howard Moore, Jr.
spoke to the influence of the Black Power and civil rights movements on events like Stonewall:
“What Black Power did--it stimulated other groups to assess themselves and what they contribute to this mix that’s the United States…Stonewall didn’t occur until 1969, after the Civil Rights Movement. So all these people are saying that we are people of worth, and that we have to be respected as we are. We will participate in this melting pot, but we will not lose our identity.”
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Still, this notion is often lost in the narrative of gay liberation. We hope that this will change as LGBTQ issues evolve and grow ever apparent.
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The Legacy of Reginald Thomas
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The HistoryMakers is saddened by the loss of Chicago-based fashion designer
Reginald Thomas
, who passed away earlier this week.
In his interview with The HistoryMakers in 2004, Thomas defined his fashion philosophy:
"I love fashion to be comfortable. It has to be comfortable. The fabric has to be great. And I love longevity of clothes because I've had people tell me that they bought a piece from me eighteen years ago and they still wear it to this day. And, you know, sometimes you want something to fall apart so they can go buy a new piece. But, yes, I've had people to tell me that they still wear my clothes to this day."
And of his hopes for the African American community, he stated:
"I hope that we can heal from the pain that we've had. I hope that we can move forward because I can see that. And I hope that we can begin to heal within ourselves and spread out. That's what I really hope."
Rest in power, Reginald Thomas--you will be missed!
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The HistoryMakers Salutes John W. Mack
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Civic leader, nonprofit chief executive and city government appointee
John W. Mack
passed away last week--he was eighty-one years old.
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Mack was a prominent civil rights and community figure in the Los Angeles area, where he served as president of the Urban League; as co-founder of the Committee on Appeal for Human Rights; and as an executive member of the Board of Police Commissioners of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Mack concluded his 2013 interview with this reflection:
"I would like to be remembered as someone who was compassionate and deeply committed to the creation of a level playing field for my people. And someone who would like to see an America in which--and a Los Angeles in which, in this beautiful mosaic of diversity, everybody has an equal chance to develop to the fullest of his or her potential. Nobody is guaranteed success in life, but everybody's guaranteed an equal opportunity to have that success. And I just think that I would like to be remembered as someone who worked as a bridge builder across all lines--racial, ethnic, economic--to make our city and our nation a better place for every individual."
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Hundreds Visit The HistoryMakers Booth at the American Library Association Conference
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Last weekend, The HistoryMakers attended the 2018 ALA Conference and Exhibition at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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From Friday to Tuesday, librarians from public libraries, universities and K-12 public schools stopped by The HistoryMakers’ booth to learn about our diverse collection of oral histories; and to experience the recently redeveloped Digital Archive - which now contains over 146,000 stories from 2,678 individuals. The HistoryMakers staff were excited to see the enthusiastic response to the Digital Archive. Through demonstrations, the staff were even able to discover new topics and individuals that were previously unknown to them within the archive - including HistoryMaker
Dorothy McIntyre
who was one of the few Tuskegee Airwomen!
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Along with the exhibition booth, The HistoryMakers presented the many unique stories and features of the Digital Archive at two events. On Saturday morning, The HistoryMakers hosted a breakfast to update attendees on the latest developments of The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. In this regard, we are especially grateful to our presenters: Northwestern University Dean of Libraries Sarah M. Pritchard; university librarian Matthew Sheehy of Brandeis University; and The HistoryMakers consulting archivist Dan Johnson. In attendance were library professionals from institutions such as Vanderbilt University, Morgan State University, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Houston Public Library; as well as V.P. Franklin, the editor of The Journal of African American History.
The organization’s founder and executive director, Julieanna Richardson, also gave a presentation of the current scope and future goals of The HistoryMakers at the annual membership meeting of the Black Caucus of the ALA.
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Please share with us your stories of how you incorporate The HistoryMakers Digital Archive into your curriculum and research. We'd love to hear from you!
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Stay tuned for more content on The HistoryMakers Digital Archive later this summer, when we resume publication of new interviews.
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1. BANNER PHOTO: Accessed June 29, 2018.
2. IMAGE: Photo illustration by YES! Magazine. Accessed June 29, 2018. http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/why-phillys-new-pride-flag-has-black-and-brown-stripes-20170627/philly-pride.gif/image.
3. John Jacob "Jake" Oliver (The HistoryMakers A2003.273), interviewed by Larry Crowe, November 12, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 1, John Jacob "Jake" Oliver describes living in New York City's Greenwich Village in 1969.
4. “Being African American & LGBTQ: An Introduction,” Human Rights Campaign. Accessed June 29, 2018. https://www.hrc.org/resources/being-african-american-lgbtq-an-introduction.
5. E. Lynn Harris (The HistoryMakers A2004.207), interviewed by Larry Crowe, October 15, 2004, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 8, E. Lynn Harris reflects on his identity as a gay man.
6. Elena Kiesling, “The Missing Colors of the Rainbow: Black Queer Resistance,”
European Journal of American Studies
11, no. 3
(2017).
7. Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Suzanna M. Crage, “The Making of the Stonewall Myth,”
American Sociological Review
71, no. 5 (2006): 724-751.
8. Leola "Roscoe" Dellums (The HistoryMakers A2003.130), interviewed by Larry Crowe, June 12, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 5, story 7, Leola "Roscoe" Dellums talks about black marginalization in social movements.
9. Cathy J. Cohen, “Straight Gay Politics: The Limits of an Ethnic Model Of Inclusion,”
Nomos
39 (1997): 572-616.
10. Howard Moore, Jr. (The HistoryMakers A2007.137), interviewed by Larry Crowe, April 14, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 6, story 2, Howard Moore, Jr. describes the impact of Black Power on subsequent social movements, pt. 1.
11. Joel Rubin, David Zahniser and Sonali Kohli, "Civic leader John Mack, a prominent leader on Los Angeles police reform, dies at 81," the Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2018. Accessed June 29, 2018.
12. John W. Mack (The HistoryMakers A2007.139), interviewed by Larry Crowe, November 18, 2013, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 2, tape 10, story 5, John W. Mack describes how he would like to be remembered.
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