Remembering Stonewall. The events behind America’s first national park site honoring LGBT history
Blog Post Jennifer Errick Jun 24, 2016
Remembering Stonewall
The events behind Americas first national park site honoring LGBT history
Today, President Obama designated the area around the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City as Americas newest national monument and the only national park site dedicated to interpreting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history.
This site represents a watershed moment in the modern LGBT civil rights movement, where a week-long uprising in 1969 sparked sustained determination among LGBT Americans to fight for full equality and civil and human rights.
I spoke with author and historian David Carter who helped spearhead the 1998 effort to have the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places and who wrote the first comprehensive book on the uprising, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution to learn more about the significance of the site and the events that happened there. This interview was edited for length and clarity.