Bronx History and Activism Project: LGBTQ+ History

Join us on Thursday, October 17 from 3 to 4 PM to learn about the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Project Director Amanda Davis will present a dynamic history of the buildings and people that have influenced history in NYC.

About the LGBT Historic Sites Project:

The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is a scholarly initiative and educational resource that officially began in August 2015 and is based on over 30 years of research and advocacy by our founders and directors, Andrew Dolkart, Ken Lustbader, and Jay Shockley. While part of the Organization of Lesbian and Gay Architects + Designers (OLGAD), they helped create the nation’s first map for LGBT historic sites in 1994.

The goal of the project is to broaden people’s knowledge of LGBT history beyond Stonewall and to place that history in a geographical context. Our interactive map features sites that are important to LGBT history as well as those that illustrate the community’s influence on America. You will find sites that show the impact that the LGBT community has had in fields such as the arts, literature, and social justice. You will also discover important gathering spaces, such as bars, clubs, and community centers that, until fairly recently, were the only places where LGBT people could come together and be themselves in a way that they often could not be in their personal and professional lives.

About Amanda Davis:

Amanda Davis is an experienced architectural historian who has overseen the Project’s documentation initiatives since its founding in 2015. On behalf of the Project, she has spoken to various audiences at the city, state, and national levels, and authored the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Caffe Cino. In 2018, she was named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s inaugural “40 Under 40: People Saving Places” list, in recognition of her efforts to help tell America’s full history. Amanda previously worked at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Architectural Resources Group (in Los Angeles), the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Central Park Conservancy. She holds a BA in Architectural History from the University of Virginia and an MS in Historic Preservation from Columbia University.

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