Even though Pride events and in-person festivities are cancelled this year, it is still possible to celebrate LGBTQ resilience from the comfort of your home – and the Library can help with that! Aside from going out to protests and engaging with written content by queer authors, there are also lots of video resources available to you with your library card. Your barcode and PIN number will give you access to lots of documentaries, movies, and other online video content through platforms such as Kanopy. Here are three great queer history documentaries of varying lengths to get you started:
After Stonewall. A 90-minute documentary from filmmakers Dan Hunt, Janet Baus, and John Scagliotti, After Stonewall details the LGBTQ rights movement beginning in the early 1970s until the end of the 20th century. It is the sequel to Before Stonewall, which focuses on the fight for LGBTQ rights prior to the movement’s watershed moment with the riots of 1969. After is particularly poignant in its treatment of the ordeals that LGBTQ people went through during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and how this political crisis impacted the type of activism that the movement turned towards at the end of the century.
United in Anger: A History of ACT UP.
This is another hour-and-a-half long documentary, this time focusing specifically on the AIDS crisis and specifically detailing the history of ACT UP, the now famous grassroots movement that was formed to fight the U.S. government’s fatally lacking response to AIDS. It is produced by the ACT UP Oral History Project, which is an organization based in New York that has been collecting interviews with survivors of AIDS (more interviews, for anyone who is interested in delving deeper beyond United in Anger, are available on their website). The documentary is a really powerful and inspiring inside look into the movement and should definitely be viewed by anyone who is interested in mobilizing for social change today, or understanding how social change movements have unfolded in the past.
T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s. Though a much shorter film, T’Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness is an amazing resource for anyone interested in some lesser known queer history. The documentary, produced by Shoga Films, examines the history of Black, queer women blues divas from the 1920s and their important influence on the blues scenes all over the United States (in cities such as Chicago and San Francisco). The film examines how many of these women, such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters, and Gladys Bentley, all had various relationships with other women (despite often being married to men) and often introduced queer themes into their music as well. Watching this movie with some loved ones is a great (and quick!) way to celebrate some less celebrated voices in LGBTQ history while also enjoying some excellent music. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Pride from home.
~ Post by Hannah P.
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