A Watershed Moment for a Movement: The Stonewall Uprising as a Turning Point in Queer History

The Stonewall Uprising was a turning point in the queer rights movement, but historians disagree on what exactly the event’s role in the history of queer activism was. Some said called it the culmination of the earlier homophile movement becoming more militant, others called it the beginning of the modern movement for queer rights. The general public and activists have their own views. At least one activist wrote that, while Stonewall was a symbolic moment, but has very little in common with the modern LGBT rights movement. In terms of public history, Stonewall is usually perceived as the actual beginning of queer activism. This poster will examine the ways that the Stonewall Uprising is periodized with panels split between different perspectives, primarily based on the writings of historians, but also drawing from other fields such as social work, activists’ perspectives, and popular history. The perspectives will include specific voices within the field and the ways in which they disagree with each other in different quadrants of the poster. The quadrants will include pictures, summaries, and quotes. Above the perspectives will be a visual timeline of queer history in the United States. On the table, there will be bibliographies for further reading, and my computer with clips from popular, nonfiction media portrayals of the Stonewall uprising for people to peruse. This poster will be based on a short historiographical essay which I am in the process of expanding and editing.