During the women’s liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s, lesbian activists played an integral role within both the feminist movement and the gay movement—but that legacy has largely been forgotten in mainstream teachings. A new exhibition at Gerber/Hart Library and Archives aims to change that.
The initial concept for the exhibition was lesbian feminism in Chicago, but as time went on, the curators became more interested in the relationship between lesbians and feminism. “‘Lesbian feminism’ was sort of a contentious term, which we weren’t aware of going into it,” Dentel says. “We just thought, oh, lesbians and feminism. They go together.”
Even though there are established gay neighborhoods in the city, a lot of the community spaces created during this time were not localized to any one area. It was wherever people could get real estate, and if they couldn’t, it was out of people’s own homes.
Visitors can get personal glimpses into these histories through photos, concert tickets, and even album covers from lesbian records: Living With Lesbians, Lesbian Concentrate, Love Thy Womanself, Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues, and more.
10/12-March 2020, Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, 6500 N. Clark, Wed-Thu 6-9 PM, Fri noon-4 PM, Sat 10 AM-4 PM, gerberhart.org, free.
