Note: The following, having originally published here, is reprinted with the author’s permission.
BY TRAV S.D. | Some years we manage to lean into Black History Month (February) more than others, and this’ll be one of those years. As it happens this, is the centennial of there being some kind of nationwide celebration of black culture in America. 1926 was when what was then known as Negro History Week was founded. (BTW I have seen some egregiously worded headlines and logos marking this benchmark, bearing some variation of “100 Years of Black History.” What we are observing however is 100 years of celebrating black history. Because there has been 400 years of black history in America and thousands more in Africa before that. Even jazz is older than 100!). Anyway, there is a dedicated website to the BHM100 project. Learn much more about it here.
Recently, at New York Historical, we visited The Gay Harlem Renaissance, which will be up until March 8.
This being a history exhibit, it was more experiential. Music is piped in, in this case period-appropriate selections from Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, and many others. As the poster indicates, there is lots of material on those old lesbian and bisexual blues queens and drag kings. That’s Gladys Bentley on the poster. Obviously, the LGBTQ subculture within the Harlem nightlife scene was clandestine, as it was technically illegal. During prohibition there were LEVELS of illegality. So among the items that made a big impression on me were actual POLICE REPORTS detailing activities in uptown gay bars and parties, from a time when same-sex conviviality was a crime. It of course made an impression because there is every reason to fear that Project 2025 had set us on a course that would bring that stuff back. Other objects were more celebratory: tuxes and top hats, a map of Harlem nightspots, paintings by Malvin Gray Johnson, poems by Countee Cullen, stuff on the likes of Langston Hughes and James Baldwinof course, and some likely bi figures like Moms Mabley and Zora Neale Hurston. And tons more. Read more about The Gay Harlem Renaissance here.
Stuff to admire and inspire! For more like that, the relevant section of Travalanche is here.
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