Creating a Place for Ourselves: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community Histories
- Book Review,
by Brett Beemyn
Amazon.com
The study of gay and lesbian history has, during the past two decades, grown enormously. Early work such as Jonathan Katz's 1978 Gay American History and Allen Bérubé's 1990 titleComing Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two have paved the way for more historically detailed work. Creating a Place For Ourselves is a fine anthology of 11 essays that detail the formation of specific queer communities across a wide historical and geographic span including Buffalo, New York, in the 1940s; Washington, D.C. in the 1950s; and Philadelphia in the early 1970s. While the essays are by academics, they are accessible, readable, and highly informative.
From Library Journal
Butch lesbians in Buffalo, high-class lesbians in Cherry Grove, gay auto workers in Flint, and all sorts of gay folk in San Francisco and New York are all found in this collection of essays examining the development of myriad gay communities in the country. Washington, D.C., Chicago, Detroit, Birmingham, and Philadelphia are also covered. Doubts that there were sizable gay communities before Stonewall will now be put to rest. Sometimes focusing on specific events or subgroups, the sociological studies collected here by Beemyn (African American studies, Univ. of Iowa) demonstrate how gay and lesbian gathering places served not only as venues for sexual contact but also provided a social network. The police raids and harassment, threats from neighbors, and government surveillance that were customary before Stonewall (and even in parts of the country today) are discussed here. But the focus is on how gay and lesbian communities not only survived but passed on a legacy through it all. Highly recommended for gay and lesbian studies collections.?Lee Arnold, Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania, PhiladelphiaCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
John D'Emilio, The Journal of American History - 3/98
"This rich and varied collection will allow teachers of social history and of the twentieth-century United States to incorporate material on sexual identity more easily into their courses."
Lesbian Review of Books
"The essays in Creating a Place for Ourselves provide important and inspirational building blocks in the ever-expanding field of lesbian, gay, and bisexual community studies."
Book Description
Creating a Place For Ourselves is a groundbreaking collection of essays that examines gay life in the United States before Stonewall and the gay liberation movement. Along with examining areas with large gay communities such as New York, San Francisco and Fire Island, the contributors also consider the thriving gay populations in cities like Detroit, Buffalo, Washington, D.C., Birmingham and Flint, demonstrating that gay communities are truly everywhere.Contributors: Brett Beemyn, Nan Alamilla Boyd, George Chauncey, Madeline Davis, Allen Drexel, John Howard, David Johnson, Liz Kennedy, Joan Nestle, Esther Newton, Tim Retzloff, Marc Stein, Roey Thorpe.
Card catalog description
Creating a Place For Ourselves offers an historical look at gay life in the United States before the gay liberation movement. Examining not only the large gay communities of New York, San Francisco, and Fire Island, but also the thriving gay populations in cities like Detroit, Buffalo, Washington, Birmingham, and Flint, the contributors assembled here demonstrate that gay communities are truly everywhere.
About the Author
Brett Beemyn teaches at Western Illinois University
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