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. Jason Baumann, the New York Public Library coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections, has edited and introduced the volume.
Stonewall 50 at New-York Historical Society features two exhibitions, Letting Loose and Fighting Back: LGBTQ Nightlife Before and After, By the Force of Our Presence: Highlights from the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and a special installation, Say It Loud, Out and Proud: Fifty Years of Pride. On view May 24 through Sept 22, 2019.
