There were several big events that occurred in 1969. I will be doing a series of posts that focus on these important events and share some library materials about these events for library patrons to check out!
The Stonewall Riots occurred on June 28, 1969. New York City Police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in Greenwich Village. This raid sparked push back from the gay community of New York City and beyond. The Stonewall Riots help strengthen the Gay Liberation Front and lead to the formation of the Gay Activists Alliance. It also lead to the first Gay Pride March that occurred one year later on June 28, 1970.
Books
“The Stonewall Reader: Edited by the New York Public Library” by New York Public Library, Edmund White (Foreword)
June 28, 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement, and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library’s archives, “The Stonewall Reader” is a collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature, and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly the anthology spotlights both iconic activists who were pivotal in the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera, co-founder of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR), as well as forgotten figures like Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s. The anthology focuses on the events of 1969, the five years before, and the five years after. Continue reading “50th Anniversary: Stonewall Riots”
