The Stonewall Uprising: The Start of A Movement Exhibit Opening

The Key West Art & Historical Society welcomes the public to a special reception on May 2 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to mark the opening of its latest exhibit “The Stonewall Riots: The Start of a Movement.”  The exhibition, on temporary loan from the Stonewall National Museum Archives and Library, will be on display through July 5 at the Key West Museum of Art & History, 281 Front Street.  Museum visitors will be transported back to the iconic New York City bar hours before the historic Stonewall Riots sparked a global LGBTQ+ human rights movement in June 1969.

The original Stonewall Inn was a mob owned bar in Greenwich Village, in New York City, in an area commonly referred to as the West Village.  The neighborhood was regarded as a safe zone, as much as any, for the marginalized communities that found their way to New York.  It was home to numbers of gay and lesbian bars, many of which were raided periodically with the patrons and employees being harassed, arrested, and assaulted.  On Friday night, June 27, 1969, police raided the bar, sparking a riot among bar patrons and residents, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar and neighboring streets.  These protests are viewed as the catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

Visitors to the exhibition will be carried back to the gritty Stonewall Inn, featuring a ‘smoky’ bar setting with a vintage jukebox playing 1969 hits.  A virtual bartender discusses life in the West Village while virtual bar patrons recall the night of the raid and the subsequent days when gay rights activists took to the streets of New York.  The traveling exhibit also features artifacts and educational text panels to tell the story of this pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ history.

“In bringing the “Stonewall Uprising” exhibition to the island during Key West Pride Month, the Society’s hope is to share this powerful moment in history of that confrontational June evening that inspired people from all walks of life to shape the LGBTQ+ movement,” says Society curator Dr. Cori Convertito.  “Since the 1970s, Key West has become a prominent community for the LGBTQ+ community.  The influx of mostly gay men and lesbian women that arrived during the post-Stonewall Uprising era established several notable businesses including Key West Aloe, the Monster Bar, Fast Buck Freddie’s, the Key West Business Guild, and Gingerbread Square Gallery.  Key West was the perfect place to host this traveling exhibition.”

The Stonewall Uprising: The Start of a Movement runs until July 5 in the Bumpus Gallery of the Key West Museum of Art & History and is sponsored in part by Jim Speake and the Key West Business Guild.