Christine Ridarsky, City of Rochester, NY/Rochester Public Library
Proposal Type
Roundtable
Seeking
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking Specific Expertise
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Museums/Exhibits
- Public Engagement
- Social Justice
Abstract
I would like to propose a session focusing on the 50th anniversary in 2019 of the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969. In particular, I would like for us to address the difficult reality that the largely black and Latinx transgender population that sparked the initial uprising have benefited the least from the LGBTQ civil rights movement that resulted and the reforms that have been adopted over the past 50 years. How can we incorporate this story and the remaining disparities into the conversation about what it shaping up to be a largely celebratory commemoration in 2019? What other issues should we be considering as we mark this anniversary? And how can we use the anniversary to spark community conversation?
Description
June 28, 2019, marks the 50th anniversary of the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that sparked the modern LGBTQ Civil Rights Movement, and many communities and institutions throughout the U.S. are making plans to commemorate the event and its effects. In my city of Rochester, NY, the Office of the City Historian, Rochester Public Library, the Out Alliance (formerly the Gay Alliance), and others are planning a major community-wide exhibition and related public programming to reflect on our community’s LGBTQ history and legacy. In preparing for the project, it has become evident that the archival documentation (as well as popular memory) is biased toward the white, middle class gay men and women who took on the mantle of activism in the decades following Stonewall. The stories of the black, Latinx, and lower-class gay and transgender people are seemingly lost to history. Even today, members of those classes remain largely in the shadows, having benefited far less than their white, middle class counterparts from progress and reforms of the past 50 years.
How can we as public historians bring their stories to the forefront and use the anniversary to spark conversation about remaining inequality? How can we acknowledge how an uprising initiated primarily by black and Latinx transgender persons was co-opted by the white middle-class without discounting the progress that has resulted from the post-Stonewall LGBTQ movement?
I see this session as roundtable, structured conversation, or collaborative conversation. I am looking first and foremost for comments on how to better frame the topic and session. I am not an expert on LGBTQ issues, but I am learning as I prep for next year. Am I on track in my thinking or totally off base? What other questions might be considered?
I’m also looking for potential panelists, preferably from a variety of perspective (archives, museums, scholars, activists…).
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Christine Ridarsky, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2018. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
Hello! This is such a great idea, framework and approach! I’ve often found that, first and foremost, networking with local QTPOC activist circles and social service organizations is the best way to prioritize our interests and insights before institutional intervention/imposition. Tapping into public power-knowledge – elder community leaders’ memories and legacies, as well as younger constituents’ reflections and connections to this past – guarantees that practitioners don’t fall into the trap of claiming working-class QTPOC histories “don’t exist” but are, rather, obscured by and within elite structures. The official archives may be biased, but our minds and our homes continue to preserve these histories on the grassroots level. This is a very meta opportunity to move beyond the notion that only (white) “professionals” or “the field” can bestow historical authenticity.
Even with “community-based” work, problems arise. Oral history projects often appropriate people’s testimonies without compensation or involvement (such that practitioners take without giving back and are, in turn, celebrated for their “scholarship”). “Advisory groups” are merely token QTPOC invited to “sign off” on a predetermined narrative late in the planning process.
I really love how you’ve paralleled the necessity of decolonizing our archives with the necessity of decolonizing our political agendas – the past is propagandized. The true irony is, indeed, that the Stonewall Uprising, led by working-class QTPOC, ushered in a new wave of rebellious, publicly-facing identities and activisms – something that the white, middle-class queers (homophiles/Mattachine/Bilitis) had failed to do with their assimilationist/homonormative/respectability politics. Lo and behold, they co-opted that labor and momentum to promote marriage equality over anti-discrimination legislation (just like you said). Questions about “colorblindness” and intersectionality within historical narrative-construction could help bring this into the present – issues of racism and classism within the queer community (e.g., police brutality and pride parade protests, the Philly Gayborhood incidents and Black and Brown flag adoption).
Apologies for the lengthy comment. I truly appreciate this proposal!
This is a great idea for a session. I think it’s worth considering why Stonewall was selected for commemoration rather than earlier events of resistance in San Francisco and Los Angeles that were also led by working class, QTPOC. See Elizabeth Armstrong and Suzana Crage, “Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth,” American Sociological Review, 71 (2006): 724-51.
Love this feedback. As someone involved in documenting and preserving LGBTQ+ historic sites in SF, I appreciate how deep the questions of representation and intersectionality go. And I’m always trying to push back against East Coast bias on the way U.S. history is framed in every arena.
Christine, I’d love to discuss the roundtable in more detail and will email you.
Donna Graves
Christine – What a very timely and vital topic, thank you for proposing it. I would be very interested to joining the discussion and also add a perspective from the middle of the nation, here in St. Louis Missouri. For the past two years I have been co-lead on a digital history project called Mapping LGBTQ St. Louis that examines the creation of LGBTQ community across divisions of race, gender, and sexuality. ( http://library.wustl.edu/map-lgbt-stl ) We also very quickly realized that the stories of QTPOC history were not in archives — but set out to find what we could. And these efforts have lead to an increase of trust by community members who are now willing to discuss donating materials, doing oral histories, and so on. There is also planning starting for commemorating 1969 which in St. Louis was not a turning point at Stonewall, but a Halloween arrest of those in drag — and a community effort to bail them out. That led to the organization of the area’s fist local gay / lesbian activism group. There are also community efforts underway to recognize the history of AIDS in the African American community, which is also tied to events in 1969 in St. Louis. Looking forward to speaking with you further.
Miranda:
I apologize that I have not checked back on this proposal in a while and am just seeing your comment. Please email me directly if you are still interested in participating. I’m working with some others to submit a proposal by the end of the week.
Hi Christine,
You might consider reaching out to Eric Gonzaba, a Ph.D. candidate and founder of Wearing Gay History. His work is public history treatment of gay material culture and could add an example of current works on preserving and interpreting this history. Also, leads to other contributors. Twitter is @EGonzaba .
Stonewall had an international impact, and there are Christopher Street demonstrations in many places in Europe and elsewhere. Others are still struggling and fighting for rights. Would it make sense to open this for perspectives from outside of the US?