Banner image: Newseum/Freedom Forum
On Exhibit Now
June 4 – September 26
Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement is a national traveling exhibit created by the Newseum in Washington, D.C. that explores how the police raid of the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village in June 1969 became the spark that ignited the modern gay rights movement in the United States.
It uses artifacts and images to shed light on important milestones of gay rights history, from the 1978 assassination of Harvey Milk, one of the country’s first openly gay elected officials to the AIDS crisis. It covers hate crime legislation and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, as well as the fight for marriage equality.
Rise Up also examines pop culture’s role in influencing attitudes about the LGBTQ community through film, television and sports, and examines how the gay rights movement has appropriated the power of public protest and demonstration to get laws changed and shatter stereotypes.
Check out MoSH Summer Pride Events & Activities.
Learn more about our companion exhibit Memphis Proud: The Resilience of a Southern LGBTQ+ Community.
A Queer Understanding Podcast (featuring Memphis Museum of Science & History)
Once a month from May to September, Angelica and Cassy will release an episode surrounding MoSH and the LGBTQ+ history of Memphis.
July 2022 Episode – Brandon Allen, Founder of LiveOUTLoud
This month, the MoSH episode of A Queer Understanding Podcast highlights Brandon Allen. Brandon Allen was homecoming royalty in 2019 at White Station High School and his homecoming dress is on display in the Memphis Proud exhibit. Click the link below to hear Brandon discuss his difficulties coming out to his family, and the discrimination he’s faced in the community, which led him to found LiveOUTLoud.
You can listen to the July episode here: https://bit.ly/1BrandonAllen
June 2022 Episode: Moth Moth Moth, Program Director for The Focus Center Foundation – A Queer Understanding
June is the second episode in the monthly MoSH series and it’s all about drag! Moth Moth Moth, aka Magical Miss Mothie, tells us how they got into drag, their journey to self-discovery, and their contribution to the Memphis Proud exhibit. You can listen to the June episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1920716/10818729-moth-moth-moth-program-director-for-the-focus-center-foundation
May 2022 Episode: Memphis Proud
The May episode featured the director of exhibits and collections Raka Nandi, as well as two of her interns, Olivia Roman and Patrick Grooms, that made the exhibit possible. You can listen to the May episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1920716/episodes/10631215
A Closer Look at the Memphis LGBTQ+ Community Blog
July 28, 2022 – Evergreen Theatre
The Historic Evergreen Theatre, Home to Memphis’s first public drag performance
By Olivia Roman
For LGBTQ+ Memphians, the Evergreen Theatre (then the Guild Art Theatre) has functioned as both a stage and a mirror since the 1960s, gifting the community the rare opportunity to both express itself and witness authentic self-expression in the form of art. This was made possible by Bill Kendall, described as “an unabashedly gay man,” who ran the theatre, fighting the censor board for the right to show “edgier” films depicting gay life.
A Closer Look at the Memphis LGBTQ+ Community Blog
June 17, 2022 – Reflecting on the Memphis Proud Community Advisory Committee
By Olivia Roman
As an intern, looking behind the museum’s curtain at all of its quirky and complex inner workings is fascinating, if not also overwhelming. The creation of an exhibit requires countless moving parts coming together, which would be impossible without the diligent work of researchers, organizers, and community members. Throughout our time designing Memphis Proud, we held Community Advisory Committee meetings, gathering together all involved for roundtable discussions on the trajectory of the exhibit.
Presented By
Sponsored by
Archer Malmo’s LGBTQIA+ ERG
Focus Magazine
International Paper
Nike
Raymond James
Sowell Realtors
“Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement” was developed by the Newseum. The Newseum is an affiliate of the Freedom Forum, whose mission is to foster First Amendment freedoms for all. freedomforum.org
