UK Happenings

UK Libraries Exhibit on Kentucky's LGBTQ Community on Display Downtown

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 27, 2015) — An exhibition on LGBTQ members of the African-American community in the Commonwealth from University of Kentucky Special Collections and Research Center (SCRC) is on display at the Lexington Public Library Gallery (downtown Lexington). The public can view "A Pictorial History of African American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Persons in Kentucky" through Sept. 27.

The exhibition's display of images comes from photo collections at UK SCRC and from very generous loans by individuals and organizations in the general public. The earliest image is the text of the more than century old Kentucky Court of Appeals case, Commonwealth v. Poindexter. The case was decided in 1909 and is believed to be the earliest and the first successful attempt by two African-American men to challenge the Kentucky sodomy law.  

The timeline of "A Pictorial History of African American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer Persons in Kentucky" moves from the court case in 1909 to the drag shows held at the Woodland Park Auditorium in the 1930s, known as the Negro Review, to members and activities of present day organizations such as Bluegrass Black Pride and the UK campus student organization Shades of Pride.

This is the second showing of the exhibit this year. It was first presented in the M.I. King Library Building during Black History Month, and there were requests for the exhibit to be made available to a larger audience. A collaboration was formed with the Lexington Public Library, and the event is sponsored by the SCRC, Bluegrass Black Pride, UK African American and Africana Studies Program and JustFundKY.

As part of the exhibition's run, "A Pictorial History of African American Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer Persons in Kentucky" will also be on display for the next Gallery Hop from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18.

UK Special Collections Research Center is home to UK Libraries' collection of rare books, Kentuckiana, the Archives, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, the King Library Press, the Wendell H. Ford Public Policy Research Center, the Bert T. Combs Appalachian collection and the digital library, ExploreUK. The mission of the center is to locate and preserve materials documenting the social, cultural, economic and political history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu