stonewall riots documents
Article by a village voice reporter who was at Stonewall. Just let's see if they can. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. In 2019, shortly before the 50th anniversary of the riots, New York Citys police commissioner, James P. ONeill, issued an apology on behalf of the police department saying, The actions taken by the N.Y.P.D. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We were looking for secret exits and one of the policewomen was able to squirm through the window and they did find a way out. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? But instead of responding with the routine compliance the NYPD expected, patrons and a growing crowd decided to fight back. have been published previously, Mr. Katz said. Little is known about the four people cited in the documents Vincent DePaul, Marilyn Fowler, Wolfgang Podolski and Thomas Staton whose involvement was not previously documented. According to all of these documents one of the main causes of these riots were sparked whenever they failed to pay off the cops. New York City Police Department/OutHistory.org. Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. John O'Brien:It was definitely dark, it was definitely smelly and raunchy and dirty and that's the only places that we had to meet each other, was in the very dirty, despicable places. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. Dick Leitsch:There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people. Thats why all our lessons and assessments are free. Use all four of your sources (two primary and two secondary) to answer the questions below. The Genovese family bribed New Yorks Sixth Police Precinct to ignore the activities occurring within the club. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. I was a man. Doric Wilson:In those days, the idea of walking in daylight, with a sign saying, "I'm a faggot," was horren--, nobody, nobody was ready to do that. Two of the pages posted online were obtained in 1988 by Michael Scherker, a writer who sued the city to obtain some police records from the time of the uprising, and who has since died. There may be some here today that will be homosexual in the future. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. More info at //www.nypl.org/calendar. Historic Films They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. None of the nine pages of reports Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations John O'Brien:If a gay man is caught by the police and is identified as being involved in what they called lewd, immoral behavior, they would have their person's name, their age and many times their home address listed in the major newspapers. The Stonewall Riots, also called the Stonewall Uprising, began in the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. traumatic physicaL, emotional and financial personal experience of my own at the time, I nonetheless said a silent prayer for those who were brave enough to be fighting for freedom. I mean they were making some headway. Like many gay establishments at the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the mafia, and as long as they continued to make a profit, they cared very little what happened to their clientele. David Alpert Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. And I found them in the movie theatres, sitting there, next to them. It was nonsense, it was nonsense, it was all the people there, that were reacting and opposing what was occurring. And she was quite crazy. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. The cops were barricaded inside. The 1960s and preceding decades were not welcoming times for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. On the one-year anniversary of the riots on June 28, 1970, thousands of people marched in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in what was then called Christopher Street Liberation Day, Americas first gay pride parade. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:There were gay bars all over town, not just in Greenwich Village. (Indeed, photographs taken by The New York Times from the final night of the riots, So anything that would set us off, we would go into action. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. We were going to propose something that all groups could participate in and what we ended up producing was what's now known as the gay pride march. Glenn Fukushima William Eskridge, Professor of Law: The 1960s were dark ages for lesbians and gay men all over America. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. One of the We did use humor to cover pain, frustration, anger. In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattachine Society, an organization dedicated to gay rights, staged a sip-in where they openly declared their sexuality at taverns, daring staff to turn them away and suing establishments who did. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, I had to act like I wasn't nervous. Many mainstream and African American periodicals (magazines and newspapers) are available viaProquest Historical Newspapers,Newsbank, andGoogle Books. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had a column inThe Village Voicethat ran from '66 all the way through '84. We were winning. The parades official chant was: Say it loud, gay is proud.. He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. manner of the way the police conducted themselves. I was wearing my mother's black and white cocktail dress that was empire-waisted. Whats more, the Mafia reportedly blackmailed the clubs wealthier patrons who wanted to keep their sexuality a secret. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. John O'Brien:Cops got hurt. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. And these were meat trucks that in daytime were used by the meat industry for moving dead produce, and they really reeked, but at nighttime, that's where people went to have sex, you know, and there would be hundreds and hundreds of men having sex together in these trucks. Doric Wilson:Somebody that I knew that was older than me, his family had him sent off where they go up and damage the frontal part of the brain. The organization with the largest donation to Christopher Street Liberation Day 1970 was the Queens Liberation Front, donating $50 (CSLDC Bulletin and Reports External, Cash Receipts Journal). However, once the bar reopened the next day, the cops planned a surprise raid that upcoming weekend. Because he was homosexual. It was a raid. It eats you up inside. Black Night Brawl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1961. When police raided Stonewall Inn on the morning of June 28, it came as a surprisethe bar wasnt tipped off this time. So if any one of you, have let yourself become involved with an adult homosexual, or with another boy, and you're doing this on a regular basis, you better stop quick. All rights reserved. ABCNEWS VideoSource Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It really should have been called Stonewall uprising. People started throwing pennies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Police violence and bar raids did not end after Stonewall. It is not comprehensive or complete; please send recommendations for additional primary sources by email tomarcs@sfsu.edu. ISBN: 0143133519 Stonewall : the riots that sparked the gay revolution by David Carter Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection HQ76 .C315 2004 ISBN: Richard Enman (Archival):Well, let me say, first of all, what type of laws we are not after, because there has been much to-do that the Society was in favor of the legalization of marriage between homosexuals, and the adoption of children, and such as that, and that is not at all factual at all. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement and led to the creation of various gay activist groups in the United States and around the world. Documents and Transcripts Listed by Time of Occurrence, from Earliest to Latest Document 1. On June 28, 1970, two thousand gay and lesbian activists in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago paraded down the streets of their cities in a new kind of social protest, one marked by celebration, fun, and unashamed declaration of a stigmatized identity. Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. Martin Boyce:For me, there was no bar like the Stonewall, because the Stonewall was like the watering hole on the savannah. It is important to note that there were a number of uprisings against police & statebrutality, harassment and entrapment of the LGBT+ communities in the U.S.in the years before Stonewall. Nobody. On the one-year anniversary of the riots, thousands of people marches in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in was then called Christopher Street Liberation Day, Americas first gay pride parade, (History, 2017). A, B, C, & D) Another cause of the Stonewall Riots was the fact that being gay was illegal. But I'm wearing this police thing I'm thinking well if they break through I better take it off really quickly but they're gunna come this way and we're going to be backing up and -- who knows what'll happen. These 1969 riots are largely credited with sparking the contemporary LGBTQ+ rights movement. BBC Worldwide Americas Urban Stages JNT2 Hannah Ingraham - Grade: 100%; NY Times Paywall - Case Analysis with questions and their answers. Send questions or suggestions Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:There were complaints from people who objected to the wrongful behavior of some gays who would have sex on the street. That never happened before. We ought to know, we've arrested all of them. The day will soon come when everyone will be able to walk in the sunshine that being able to be ones self provides. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. https://www.britannica.com/event/Stonewall-riots. Fred Sargeant Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We only had about six people altogether from the police department knowing that you had a precinct right nearby that would send assistance. It was done in our little street talk. Stanford University | 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 | Privacy Policy. Martin Boyce:The day after the first riot, when it was all over, and I remember sitting, sun was soon to come, and I was sitting on the stoop, and I was exhausted and I looked at that street, it was dark enough to allow the street lamps to pick up the glitter of all the broken glass, and all the debris, and all the different colored cloth, that was in different places. Edmund White (Foreword by); New York Public Library (Editor), Phyllis Lyon/Del Martin And The Daughters Of Bilitis, Arrest Reports from the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, Stonewall and It's Impact on the Gay Liberation Movement, Stonewall 50: Library of Congress Panel Discussion on LGBTQ+ Research, Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Bulletin and Reports, Black Cat Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1967. But that night, for some unknown reason, people fought back. Narrator (Archival):We arrested homosexuals who committed their lewd acts in public places. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. Stonewall soon became a symbol of resistance to social and political discrimination that would inspire solidarity among homosexual groups for decades. Homo, homo was big. But it's serious, don't kid yourselves about it. an independent scholar and director of OutHistory.org, with help from David Carter, the author of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution While the events of Stonewall are often referred to as "riots," Stonewall veterans have explicitly stated that they prefer the term Stonewalluprising orrebellion. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. Bars were one of the few places LBGTQ+ people could gather in public, and these spaces were frequently raided throughout the 1950s-1970s. A set of police records gathered by OutHistory.org, a Web site run by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City stream Fed up with constant police harassment and social discrimination, angry patrons and neighborhood residents hung around outside of the bar rather than disperse, becoming increasingly agitated as the events unfolded and people were aggressively manhandled. Few photographs of the raid and the riots that followed exist. One never knows when the homosexual is about. The fire department and a riot squad were eventually able to douse the flames, rescue those inside Stonewall, and disperse the crowd. For a comprehensive list of which homophile groups contributed financially to the first Pride, researchers can reference the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Bulletin and Reports External. WebIn the early hours of Saturday, June 28, 1969, a riot broke out during a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, an LGBT bar. This 19-year-old serviceman left his girlfriend on the beach to go to a men's room in a park nearby where he knew that he could find a homosexual contact. The Stonewall was also not the only bar in town being frequently raided. The Stonewall had reopened. But we're going to pay dearly for this. Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? I was never seduced by an older person or anything like that. Our lessons and assessments are available for free download once you've created an account. We don't know. We didn't expect we'd ever get to Central Park. WebOn June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, was raided by police. Martin Boyce Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. Why We Remember Stonewall. I really thought that, you know, we did it. Like, "Joe, if you fire your gun without me saying your name and the words 'fire,' you will be walking a beat on Staten Island all alone on a lonely beach for the rest of your police career. Linton Media It meant nothing to us. Replace the bracketed text with your responses. other rioters, Wolfgang Podolski and Thomas Staton, whose involvement in the disturbances had not been documented before. A Police Department report from the early morning of June 28, 1969, at the start of the Stonewall uprising, is part of a small collection of newly released documents. When you exit, have some identification and it'll be over in a short time." WGBH Educational Foundation That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. I would wait until there was nobody left to be the girl and then I would be the girl. Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. In Stonewall, renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman tells the full story of this pivotal moment in history. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:There were no instructions except: put them out of business. Dick Leitsch:We wore suits and ties because we wanted people, in the public, who were wearing suits and ties, to identify with us. I didn't think I could have been any prettier than that night. And you will be caught, don't think you won't be caught, because this is one thing you cannot get away with. Slate:Activity Group Therapy (1950), Columbia University Educational Films. Tensions between New York City Police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening and again several nights later. Corrections? Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. It was as if an artist had arranged it, it was beautiful, it was like mica, it was like the streets we fought on were strewn with diamonds. And they were having a meeting at town hall and there were 400 guys who showed up, and I think a couple of women, talking about these riots, 'cause everybody was really energized and upset and angry about it. And it would take maybe a half hour to clear the place out. It was an age of experimentation. In 1969, it had no liquor license and held refuge for gay men and transvestites against the prejudiced police and laws. In fact, the NYPD had stormed Stonewall Inn just a few days before the riot-inducing raid. Some of the pre-Stonewall uprisingsincluded: There have been many incidents in which police interaction with LGBTQ+ communities has resulted in violence, and in response, protest. Based on Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:It was always hands up, what do you want? We knew that this was a moment that we didn't want to let slip past, because it was something that we could use to bring more of the groups together. And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. It was not the first time police raided a gay bar, and it was not the first time LGBTQ+ people fought back, but the events that would unfold over the next six days would fundamentally change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ activism in the United States. The laws were made to specifically On June 28th, these police raided Stonewall, which was not uncommon. There may be some girls here who will turn lesbian. Alan Lechner They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. They began to jeer at and jostle the police and then threw bottles and debris. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The police would zero in on us because sometimes they would be in plain clothes, and sometimes they would even entrap. The broad-based radical activism of many gay men and lesbians in the 1970s eventually set into motion a new, nondiscriminatory trend in government policies and helped educate society regarding this significant minority. Colonial House This time the people milling outside the bar did not retreat or scatter as they almost always had in the past. And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? Danny Garvin ( New York : New York University Press , 2019 . This, the very first U.S. In short, on the morning of June 28, the Stonewall was full of people who had every reason not to want to show their IDs. We could lose our memory from the beating, we could be in wheelchairs like some were. Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. by e-mail. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. Giles Kotcher The medical experimentation in Atascadero included administering, to gay people, a drug that simulated the experience of drowning; in other words, a pharmacological example of waterboarding. Danny Garvin:We became a people. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. Drag queens and Martin Boyce:That was our only block. The severity of the punishment varies from state to state. Samual Murkofsky As kids, we played King Kong. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. The day is now celebrated globally to honor the brave individuals who stood up to the system and protested for equality in 1969. National History Archive, LGBT Community Center Raymond Castro:Incendiary devices were being thrown in I don't think they were Molotov cocktails, but it was just fire being thrown in when the doors got open. Mary Queen of the Scotch, Congo Woman, Captain Faggot, Miss Twiggy. Maybe the guys name was real (parents do name their kids after saints) but maybe it was just given at the time of arrest. On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, setting off a three-day riot that launched the modern American gay rights movement. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! June 28, 1969 marks the beginning of the Stonewall Uprising, a series of events between police and LGBTQ+ protesters which stretched over six days. And they were gay. Ellen Goosenberg In addition to launching numerous public demonstrations to protest the lack of civil rights for gay individuals, these organizations often resorted to such tactics as public confrontations with political officials and the disruption of public meetings to challenge and to change the mores of the times. In 1969 the solicitation of homosexual relations was an illegal act in New York City (and indeed virtually all other urban centres). We take great pride in preserving the history of this groundbreaking event in Americas battle for LGBTQ+ equality. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. most fun and fascinating nights of my life. A word that would be used in the 1960s for gay men and lesbians. It's very American to say, "You promised equality, you promised freedom." We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. Stonewall riots, also called Stonewall uprising, series of violent confrontations that began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, between police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. Replace the bracketed text with your responses. Omissions? And if enough people broke through they would be killed and I would be killed. The article notes that little is known about Vincent DePaul (and several others), but the Renaissance saint Vincent de Paul is well documented. Since then, the term 'Stonewall' itself has become almost synonymous with the struggle for gay rights. Raids were still a fact of life, but usually corrupt cops would tip off Mafia-run bars before they occurred, allowing owners to stash the alcohol (sold without a liquor license) and hide other illegal activities. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:This was the Rosa Parks moment, the time that gay people stood up and said no. It was the law. I mean I'm only 19 and this'll ruin me. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. There were gay bars in Midtown, there were gay bars uptown, there were certain kinds of gay bars on the Upper East Side, you know really, really, really buttoned-up straight gay bars. How Did the Rainbow Flag Become a Symbol of LGBTQ Pride? Dick Leitsch:Well, gay bars were the social centers of gay life. But you live with it, you know, you're used to this, after the third time it happened, or, the third time you heard about it, that's the way the world is. It was as if they were identifying a thing. Find out how the Stonewall uprising sparked a new era of LGBTQ activism, This article was most recently revised and updated by, Theres a Riot Goin On: Riots in U.S. History (Part Two), 5 Important Places in Global LGBTQIA+ History. Often, those who had survived police raids were hospitalized or had to seek medical care for their injuries. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:And then the next night. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. Popular. WebDocument C: Mattachine Society of New York Newsletter 1. So gay people were being strangled, shot, thrown in the river, blackmailed, fired from jobs. So you couldn't have a license to practice law, you couldn't be a licensed doctor. The windows were always cloaked. Martha Shelley:The riot could have been buried, it could have been a few days in the local newspaper and that was that. That's it. It was a horror story. But, that's when we knew, we were ourselves for the first time. While Stonewall became well known due to the media coverage and the subsequent annual Pride traditions, it was a culmination of years of LGBTQ+ activism. %PDF-1.3 Danny Garvin:Something snapped. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. This 1955 educational film warns of homosexuality, calling it "a sickness of the mind.". The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. The New York Times / Redux Pictures NBC News Archives ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. But I gave it up about, oh I forget, some years ago, over four years ago. Martha Shelley:Before Stonewall, the homophile movement was essentially the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis and all of these other little gay organizations, some of which were just two people and a mimeograph machine. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. With Stonewall, the spirit of 60s rebellion spread to LGBTQ people in New York and beyond, who for the first time found The first police officer that came in with our group said, "The place is under arrest. The event sparked the formation of scores of gay rights organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, OutRage! Greg Shea, Legal John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. NPS.gov. Meanwhile, there was crowds forming outside the Stonewall, wanting to know what was going on. In this lesson, students analyze four documents to answer the question: What caused the Stonewall Riots? He was not present at the riot. Tom Caruso Danny Garvin:We had thought of women's rights, we had thought of black rights, all kinds of human rights, but we never thought of gay rights, and whenever we got kicked out of a bar before, we never came together. Susan Liberti If youre interested in learning more about the Stonewall Riots, theres a free sneak preview of an upcoming American Experience film at the New York Public Library this evening at 6:30pm. Read a July 6, 1969excerpt fromTheNew York Daily News. WebJamie Tucker March 20, 2022 HIS 200 3-2 Writing Plan Progress Check 3 Topic of Interest: For my historical event I have chosen The Stonewall Riots. Mike Wallace (Archival):The average homosexual, if there be such, is promiscuous. Accustomed to more passive behaviour, even from larger gay groups, the policemen called for reinforcements and barricaded themselves inside the bar while some 400 people rioted. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. And a couple of 'em had pulled out their guns. After two years, police said they had been informed that liquor was being served on the premises. I hope it was. Because the owners were still making a profit, they simply adjusted to the raids, and were often tipped off about them ahead of time.The Stonewall was raided on average once a month leading up to the raid on June 28, 1969 (Martin Duberman,Stonewall p. 187), and had been raided once already that same week. dartmouth high school staff, parrs wood high school term dates 2020 2021,
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