Civil Rights

Within weeks of the Stonewall Rebellion, activists formed the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). However, GLF members quickly divided over strategy. Some wanted to form alliances with other radical groups like the Black Panthers. Others wanted to focus exclusively on gay issues. The latter formed a group of their own, the Gay Activist Alliance, described as a "school for democracy." They set up shop in a former firehouse in Manhattan.

Probably the most well-known event in the struggle for LGBTQ rights, the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York City brought the issue of queer rights into the spotlight. It helped to build solidarity among queer groups that were ready to take a stand against police harassment and violence.

Stonewall National Monument commemorates an important site and historic event in the the movement for LGBTQ rights. The Stonewall Inn was popular with the African American and Latinx LGBTQ community, and the crowd that gathered to demonstrate in the early hours of June 28, 1969 included many people of color. Today the site is recognized for its connection to LGBTQ history, African American history, and the history of civil rights for all in America.

The Stonewall National Monument cultural landscape includes the streets and locations of the Stonewall Uprising, which took place from June 28 and July 3, 1969. While it was not the start or end of the fight for gay rights, the events at the Stonewall Inn and the surrounding streets of Greenwich Village in New York City were a major catalyst in organizing the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement. The streets, parks, and buildings of the landscape help reflect this history.

Over the years, queer activism has taken many shapes. Private organizations have formed to support community members and take up political causes; artists, writers, and speakers disseminate their ideas on civil justice through every medium imaginable. On some occasions, like the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn, oppressive, discriminatory circumstances ferment to a bursting point and acts of unintentional activism become the catalyst for a broader movement for civil rights.

In 1924 Henry Gerber founded the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. While he was in the Army, Gerber was stationed in Coblenz, Germany. While there, he experienced a more open homosexual community than in America. After his return to the U.S. in 1923, Gerber distanced himself from what he saw as a disorganized, politically unaware gay subculture, choosing instead to live in relative anonymity in a boarding house in Chicago, Ill.

Working from his home in Northwest Washington, DC, Dr. Frank Kameny applied the ideas of the burgeoning civil rights movement to challenge and change negative perceptions of homosexuality and to fight discriminatory public policy.

Signed into law July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Many national parks were created to preserve and tell the story of the struggle for civil and human rights leading up to the Act and beyond as we continue to work towards realizing the dream for all people.

Whether you're well-versed in the salsa community or new to its world, Pathways Through Salsa invites you to embark on a journey of curiosity by exploring a range of topics that may be both familiar and unfamiliar to you. As you navigate each pathway, you'll encounter trail markers that pose thought-provoking questions, encouraging you to reflect on the connections between these stories and the valuable insights they offer.

Just like jazz, researchers and historians are still learning about salsa history; there are many and various opinions about what salsa is, how it came to be, and what is important in the history of salsa. Instead of defining what salsa is, Oíste? Listening to the Salsa Stories of Afro Latin Music presents some of many salsa stories so that we can start to better understand what salsa means to people both now and then.