Opening Reception: “The Harlem Renaissance: As Gay as it was Black”
Thu, Jan 16
|Jazz UpFront
We have partnered with local LGBTQ+ organization, Prairie Pride Coalition to bring you this Stonewall Library Archive Exhibition which will be making its way around Bloomington- Normal for Black History Month. Event will be catered courtesy of PPC, cash bar. No cover 21+
Time & Location
Jan 16, 2025, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Jazz UpFront, 107 W Front St, Bloomington, IL 61701, USA
About the event
“In the words of scholar Henry Louis Gates, the Harlem Renaissance was “surely as gay as it was Black.” In the early twentieth century, Harlem’s queer subculture was an open secret. Blueswomen like Ma Rainey and Lucille Bogan sang openly about same-sex female desire. Literary giants like Langston Hughes attended queer parties at A’Lelia Walker’s “Dark Tower.” In May 1933, the French magazine Voila published an issue devoted to the cultural life of Harlem, with a feature on Harlem’s ballroom scene…”
-The Queer Harlem Renaissance
Yale University Library Online Exhibition
Jazz UpFront is PROUD to partner with PPC to bring this important and often overlooked part of black history to our venue. We are a minority owned business that loves and supports minorities, including LGBTQ people of all backgrounds.