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Recent Posts
- Just after the Depression years, the Grand Rapids City Government provided direct relief and created a public works project for those unemployed
- Some examples of the conditions for blacks in Grand Rapids and what types of discrimination blacks faced on a daily basis in the early part of the 20th Century
- “Maybe America has forgotten how smoke smells”: The state of Black Grand Rapids from the perspective of Paul I Phillips in the mid-1970s
- African Americans from Grand Rapids who were part of the US Civil War
- 1970 document sheds light on the housing crisis in Grand Rapids and the lack of political will to solve it
Category Archives: LGBTQ Movement
New Print Celebrates First Pride in Grand Rapids – 1988
The annual Pride Celebration is coming up in Grand Rapids, so what better way to celebrate Pride then to post a new print we received. The following print is from L Schippers, a GVSU student, celebrates the first Pride celebration in … Continue reading
New Print demonstrates the hypocrisy of GVSU and LGBTQ Equality
A new print by GVSU student Ciara Pink, beautifully depicts not on the historical struggle to win domestic partner benefits at GVSU, but the hypocrisy of the university, which claims to embrace, equity, inclusion and social justice. Grand Valley State … Continue reading
Artwork highlights a People’s History in Grand Rapids – Print #21: The First Pride Celebration 1988
Last semester, art students in Brett Colley’s GVSU class on printmaking, invited me to come talk about the Grand Rapids People’s History Project. The intent of the class was to have students investigate their own part of a People’s History … Continue reading
A Legacy of Pride and Struggle in the Grand Rapids LGBTQ Community
This week Pride celebrations are happening all across the globe. These celebrations are rooted in the Stonewall riot that took place in the summer of 1969. Pride celebrations have evolved over the years and many believe that it has become … Continue reading
Artwork highlights a People’s History in Grand Rapids – Print #12 – the struggle for LGBTQ equality in West Michigan
Last semester, art students in Brett Colley’s GVSU class on printmaking, invited me to come talk about the Grand Rapids People’s History Project. The intent of the class was to have students investigate their own part of a People’s History … Continue reading
Artwork highlights a People’s History in Grand Rapids – Print #8 – Milt Ford, founder the the LGBT Resource Center at GVSU
This past semester, art students in Brett Colley’s class on printmaking, invited me to come talk about the Grand Rapids People’s History Project. The intent of the class was to have students investigate their own part of a People’s History … Continue reading
Early HIV/AIDS organizing in Grand Rapids
In honor of World AIDS Day, we are posting a section from the film, A People’s History of the LGBTQ Community in Grand Rapids. This section of the film provides some history on the early organizing around HIV/AIDS. Most of … Continue reading
Honoring the Legacy of Milt Lennox
Yesterday it was reporter that Milt Lennox, former owner and founder of the Apartment Lounge had passed away. As a member of the LGBTQ community, Milt not only was a major supporter of numerous LGBTQ rights campaigns in West Michigan, … Continue reading
1991 GRTV Show provides a window into past organizing in Grand Rapids by the LGBTQ Community
In 1991, the Lesbian and Gay Network of West Michigan had begun its campaign to get the City of Grand Rapids to pass an ordinance that would provide anti-discrimination protections for the LGBT community. The ordinance did not pass until … Continue reading
Necessary Radical Thought: Network forum in 1992 demonstrates the importance of constant reflection on where the LGBTQ community is going
When we produced A Grand Rapids People’s History of the LGBTQ Community, we were inspired by all the people who came forward to tell their story and demonstrate the rich history of organizing in West Michigan for collective liberation. In … Continue reading
Grand Rapids People's History Project 