Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  IDENTITY

'Queer Bronzeville': The South Side's LGBT history
by Wes Lawson
2009-07-01

This article shared 9188 times since Wed Jul 1, 2009
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


In the 1920s, in an area of Chicago known as Bronzeville, a small but powerful queer subculture emerged. Located on the South Side from State Street to Cottage Grove Avenue, along 43rd and 47th streets, a group of African-American LGBT individuals began to carve out the neighborhood as their own in bars, restaurants and jazz clubs, where they were free to be amongst like minded individuals in a situation similar to that which was taking place in Harlem, New York City.

These stories of life on Chicago's South Side for LGBT individuals have been collected into an online exhibit called "Queer Bronzeville: The History of African American Gays and Lesbians on Chicago's South Side, 1900-1980." The site's content runs from the end of the Great Migration ( when 1.3 million African Americans moved from the south to the north, Midwest, and west portions of the United States ) to the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, and the exhibit comprises not only written history, but photographs, songs, videos, interviews and articles. The exhibit is on display at www.outhistory.org , and is similar in format to Wikipedia.

Tristan Cabello, a Ph.D. candidate and lecturer at Northwestern University, spearheaded the project, which has a focus on 20th-century American history. For him, the project began three years ago as part of his dissertation, and the way in which it became an OutHistory exhibit was through a contest.

"Outhistory.org has several exhibits, and my exhibit was chosen when they held a contest 6-7 months ago. They asked gay history scholars to create exhibits, and they chose mine," said Cabello.

"I came onto this almost by chance. It started when I took a class on gay history, where it was extremely obvious that most gay history only equates to white, male gay history," said Cabello. "There are not a lot of sources for the other aspects of [ LGBT ] history, so it's very hard to find people, articles, and other things from that period."

Cabello says one of the places he started was the African-American newspapers of the time, which included the Chicago Bee, Chicago Defender and Chicago Whip. He was surprised to discover what a dense history African Americans had in Chicago, especially among the LGBT community.

"If you look back, the first articles about [ LGBT ] African Americans appeared in the '40s in Ebony. The history that is documented in these papers is very dense," Cabello said.

Among his discoveries were people like Tony Jackson, a gay blues pianist from Chicago who migrated to Chicago after persecution in New Orleans; Nancy Kelly, a drag queen from what was called the South Side Drag Circuit; and Keith Barrow, a singer and Chicago native who succumbed to AIDS early on in the epidemic. All of these artists are profiled in the project, and many others.

In doing this project, Cabello had a simple goal: to show people that there was gay history in their neighborhoods.

"I wanted to show that people back then were accepting. Homophobia in the Black community is not a historical thing," said Cabello. "Sexual identity didn't really matter. It was not part of the public discourse and people were accepted and integrated."

One of the crucial shifts in this mentality came when the Civil Rights movement began. Cabello spoke of how Martin Luther King's goal to gain full citizenship for African Americans often overshadowed other problems within the community.

"Oftentimes, Black people, in order to gain acceptance, had to play to white heteronormativity. Ebony published an article in the 1960s where MLK took questions from young people, and one person asked him about being gay. King suggested that he seek the help of a doctor. This is when the discourse begins to shift," said Cabello. "When people began to write black history, they tried to use the templates for white history, and that doesn't really work. Segregation is still happening in the city today, and white and Black LGBT people typically are not integrated. With this exhibit, we can work toward changing that."

Cabello also mentioned that LGBT people, particularly African Americans, began to lose their sexual freedom when they began to work toward equality, because the civil rights movement mostly worked to uplift the race.

Ultimately, Cabello wants people to know that there is more to LGBT history than they are probably aware of.

"One of the other purposes of this exhibit is to let people know that not only was there [ LGBT ] history for African Americans before the civil-rights movement, but there was general [ LGBT ] history before gay liberation in the '70s," Cabello said. "If people get to know this, then my work here is done."

The ultimate goal of the exhibit will be for Cabello to turn it into a book, which he plans to publish within the next three years after completing more research. Until then, readers can see the exhibit at www.outhistory.org, in the "Exhibits" tab.

GLSEN report: Many Illinois LGBT students harassed

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network ( GLSEN ) has released a report that reveals that LGBT students in Illinois face high levels of harassment at school.

"Inside Illinois Schools: The Experiences of LGBT Students" surveyed 206 Illinois students in 2007 about the level of harassment they receive in school, as well as related questions.

The report showed that 89% of Illinois LGBT students experienced verbal harassment in the past year that involved sexual harassment, 43% said they had been physically harassed and 21% said they had been physically assaulted.

In other results, 97% of the respondents said that they had regularly heard "gay" spoken in a negative way, such as "That's so gay." Also, 36% of LGBT students had skipped school at least once in the previous month because of safety concerns.

GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said in a statement that " [ w ] hile we applaud Illinois for being one of only 11 states to pass a law that explicitly protects students from bullying and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, Inside Illinois Schools shows just how much work still needs to be done to make sure LGBT students in Illinois are safe in school."

Read the entire report at www.glsen.org/binary-data/GLSEN_ATTACHMENTS/file/000/001/1391-1.PDF.


This article shared 9188 times since Wed Jul 1, 2009
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Chicago History Museum announces "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s - 70s exhibition 2024-03-14
--From a press release - CHICAGO (March 14, 2024) — The Chicago History Museum is thrilled to announce its upcoming exhibition, "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s—70s." Set to open on Saturday, May 18, 2024, this exhibition is ...


Gay News

Women's History Month doesn't do enough to lift up Black lesbians 2024-03-12
- Fifty years ago, in 1974, the Combahee River Collective (CRC) was founded in Boston by several lesbian and feminist women of African descent. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by ...


Gay News

SAVOR Eldridge Williams talks new concepts, Beyonce, making history 2024-03-08
- One restaurant would be enough for most people to handle. However, this year Eldridge Williams is opening two new concepts—including one that will be the first Black-owned country-and-western bar in the Midwest. Williams, an ally of ...


Gay News

SAVOR Let's Talk Womxn's 'More Than March'; Adobo Grill's tequila dinner 2024-03-06
- I was fortunate enough to be invited to a culinary event that celebrates the achievement of women—and, fittingly, it happened during Women's History Month. On March 1, Let's Talk Womxn Chicago held its annual "More Than ...


Gay News

Without compromise: Holly Baggett explores lives of iconoclasts Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap 2024-03-04
- Jane Heap (1883-1964) and Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), each of them a native Midwesterner, woman of letters and iconoclast, had a profound influence on literary culture in both America and Europe in the early 20th Century. Heap ...


Gay News

Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican McConnell to step down from leading U.S. Senate 2024-02-29
- U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) will step down from Senate leadership in November, having served in that capacity longer than any senator in history, The Advocate noted. McConnell has been a senator since 1985 and has ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Raymond Lopez talks congressional run, Chuy Garcia, migrant crisis 2024-02-26
- Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez has been a member of City Council since 2015, representing the 15th Ward and making history as one of the city's first LGBTQ+ Latine alderman. Now, he is setting his sights on ...


Gay News

Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams's violin stylings help COH mark Black History Month 2024-02-23
- As part of its celebration of Black History Month, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., presented a solo jazz performance by violinist Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams on Feb. 21. The two-hour long performance presented a showcase ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Raven-Symone, women's sports, Wayne Brady, Jinkx Monsoon, British Vogue 2024-02-09
- In celebration of Black History Month, the LA LGBT Center announced that lesbian entertainer Raven-Symone will be presented with the Center's Bayard Rustin Award at its new event, Highly Favored, per a press release. She joins ...


Gay News

On 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Mayor Brandon Johnson reaffirms commitment to reproductive rights 2024-01-22
--From a press release - CHICAGO — Today marks the 51st anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, which preserved the constitutional right to choose. Chicago has a long history of advocating for women's rights and is considered ...


Gay News

Chicago Red Stars sign Mallory Swanson to historic contract 2024-01-16
- CHICAGO (January 16, 2024) — The Chicago Red Stars have signed Mallory Swanson to a historic long-term contract, making it the most lucrative agreement in the history of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and seeing ...


Gay News

Gay political trailblazer Ken Sherrill passes away at age 81 2023-12-30
- Kenneth Sherrill—a pioneering political scientist who was also the first out gay elected official in New York history—died in early December at age 81 from surgical complications, Gay City News reported. He is survived by his ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Alex Newell, Joe Locke, 'Bad Together,' Raven-Symone, Limelight club 2023-12-14
- Alex Newell—who made history as one of the first two out nonbinary Tony Award winners—was named Time's Breakthrough of the Year for 2023, The Advocate reported. Newell won the Tony this year as Best Featured Actor ...


Gay News

Bradley Cooper conducts a symphony of queer history in Maestro 2023-12-13
- Composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein was one of the most important musicians of his time, receiving many accolades—the Kennedy Center Honor among them, in 1981—before passing away in 1990. Behind the scenes ...


Gay News

Santos voted out of Congress 2023-12-01
- Now-former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-New York) was voted out of Congress on Dec. 1. Santos is the sixth House member in U.S. history to be booted from Congress, and the third since the Civil War, ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.