There she met Frances Clayton, her partner for 21 years. She published her first volume of poems, The First Cities, in 1968, the same year she was writer-in-residence at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. Visit the Alice Austen House Audre Lorde Walk, Silver Lake ParkĪcross the way from Alice Austen Park, Silver Lake Park honors Audre Lorde, a self-described "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet." In 2017, the historic house was designated as a National LGBT Historic Site. She was also the first woman on Staten Island to own a car and the founder of the Staten Island Garden Club. Some of her early works included images of women embracing and cross-dressing. Here are highlights of some of those stories told in our parks: Alice Austen House, Alice Austen ParkĪlice Austen (1866-1952) was a prolific photographer, producing thousands of photographs that captured life in NYC. She lived at Clear Comfort (inside what is now Alice Austen Park) with Gertrude Tate at Clear Comfort, now known as the Alice Austen House.Īlice was a trailblazer on many fronts. Many notable New Yorkers, artists, and writers helped shaped the pride of the LGBTQ+ movement and gay rights. Held on the Saturday before the NYC Pride March, this annual event now ends in Washington Square Park. The march began in Bryant Park and ended in Union Square. Twenty-four years after the first Pride March, the New York Lesbian Avengers organized and held the first NYC Dyke March in June 1993. Learn more about the Gay Liberation Monument and the Stonewall riots The First NYC Dyke March In 2018, Christopher Park became a national park and the first-ever U.S. This sculpture at Christopher Park, opposite the historic Stonewall Inn, honors the gay rights movement and commemorates the events at Stonewall. Learn more about Washington Square Park's Pride history Gay Liberation Monument, Christopher Park The third Pride March began in Central Park and ended in Washington Square Park, which was the kickoff point of a July 1969 march to Stonewall in protest of the police raids. It started out from Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village and was followed by a "Gay-in" at Sheep Meadow in Central Park. The Christopher Street Liberation Day March took place in 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The Stonewall Riots-in protest of a police raid at Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, on June 28, 1969-sparked the modern movement for LGBTQ rights, as well as advocacy for the legalization of gay bars and the organization of the first NYC Pride March (then known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March).
The Stonewall Riots and NYC's First Pride March Join us as we celebrate Pride this June with Urban Park Ranger-led tours, and more! Check out our Pride Month EventsĮxplore parks and historic sites in New York City that commemorate the history and legacy of the LGBTQIA+ movement and community.