Pride Foundation grantee, BlackPast.org, announces the launch of a new section on their website highlighting LGBTQ African American History! The press release below details the project.
LGBTQ History of African Americans Highlighted on BlackPast.org
Seattle, Washington – October 1, 2012 – BlackPast.org announces the launch of a new section highlighting the LGBTQ history of African Americans on this award-winning online reference center (www.BlackPast.org). Funded with a grant from Pride Foundation this is a special section of BlackPast.org dedicated to presenting the history of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer people who have made contributions to both African American history and culture and American history and culture. BlackPast chose October, LGBTQ History Month, as the perfect time to go live.
BlackPast.org meets the public need for knowledge about the African American experience due to its centuries-old exclusion from traditional historical texts and public history. The LGBTQ section addresses a similar need: providing the history of people who have faced double invisibility as persons of color and LGBTQ individuals. BlackPast.org hopes the presentation of this history will increase the understanding between African American and LGBTQ communities which are often seen as antagonistic toward each other. BlackPast.org’s efforts will close the gap.
The LGBTQ page is divided into sections on LGBTQ people in the Pacific Northwest, the rest of the United States, and finally, people of African ancestry who are LGBTQ around the world. The page also features links related to the individual and collective history of LGBTQ people including major speeches.
The profiles bring the social issues to life. For instance, BlackPast.org researchers discovered Perry Watkins from Tacoma, Washington, the only LGBTQ person to serve openly in the US military. The early HIV/AIDS crisis is seen through the profile of Danny Scarborough, an award-winning choreographer/dancer who in the mid-1980s became one of the first prominent African Americans to go public about having AIDS. The Combahee River Collective’s Statement (1977) was one of the earliest explorations of the intersection of multiple oppressions, including racism and heterosexism.
For more information, contact Dr. Quintard Taylor, Founder and Director, 4616 25th Avenue, NE, PMB 222, Seattle, WA 98105 /206-985-8553 / blackpast@blackpast.org.