In 1950s - 1960s, homosexuality was illegal in 49 states, and members of LGBTQ community were harassed, imprisoned, fined, and targeted for violence and discrimination. The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City was a bar where gays, lesbians, and people with a wide range of gender identities gathered together and found refuge, though not without harassment. Police often raided the Stonewall and other gay bars and arrested patrons.
During the early morning of June 28, 1969, nine police officers raided the Stonewall Inn once again. Already fed up after decades of harassment, patrons resisted by pushing through barricades, throwing bottles, and finally, setting fire to the bar. Meanwhile, the crowd grew bigger outside the bar as the hours passed. Hundreds of people chanted “Gay Power,” “We Want Freedom,” and “We Shall Overcome.”
The uprising against unjust treatment and violence by police lasted until July 1st and marked a watershed moment for the LGBTQ rights movement. It sparked the establishment of the Gay Liberation Front, the first activist group to publicly advocate for gay rights.
June is Pride Month. We must remember this history, and continue educating people and fighting for equal rights for all people.
We also recommend the film, “Stonewall Uprising” on PBS:
Image 1: Cover with a jacket
Image 2: Right: Sunil Gupta, “Untitled #8 from Christopher Street” 1976
Image 3: Left: Avram Finkelstein, “Journal Notes, Sketches for Posters” 1986, Right: “Silence=Death Project, Silence=Death” 1987
Art after Stonewall : 1969-1989
edited by Jonathan Weinberg with Tyler Cann, Anastasia Kinigopoulo, and Drew Sawyer.
Published: Columbus, Ohio : CMOA, Columbus Museum of Art ; New York, New York : Rizzoli Electa, 2019.
304 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits, photographs ; 27 cm
Explores the impact of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights movement on the art world of the period. It focuses on openly LGBTQ artists like Nan Goldin, Harmony Hammond, Lyle Ashton Harris, Greer Lankton, Glenn Ligon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Catherine Opie, and Andy Warhol, as well as the practices of such artists as Diane Arbus, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Karen Finley in terms of their engagement with queer subcultures.
English
2019
HOLLIS number: 99153771490003941
