York, thank you very much for being with us. Thank you very much for having me. American history tv products are now available at the new cspan online store. Go to cspanstore. Org. To see whats new. And check out all of the cspan products. Each week, american artifacts takes viewers into archives, museums and Historic Sites around the country. Up next we visit the rise up exhibit at the museum in washington, d. C. , to learn about the 1969 stonewall riots and how they served as a catalyst for the modern lgbtq rights movement. Welcome to the museum. Im patty rule, the Vice President of exhibits and content. Were here at the prologue of rise up, stonewall and the lgbt movement. It was an event in 1969, an up rising that propelled forward the modern movement. This is where we tell that story of how ordinary americans used their First Amendment freedoms, freedom of speech, the press, petition, assembly, religion, to advocate for change and change society. Were going to walk around the corner and look at some artifacts from two of the earliest lgbtq rights organizations that rose up in the 1950s and 60s. Gay americans lived in fear and secretory. They could be arrested for showing affection in public. Police prowled parks to arrest gay people seeking as ignations there. It was a difficult time to be a gay american. But this is when you see the rise of a few early lgbtq groups, social groups, such as the mattis Sheen Society and daughters of alightus. When people are meeting in secret in their homes to talk about what its like to be a gay man, a lesbian woman, to social lice, dance, have fun. Out of these groups rose movements for social justice where instead of seeking tolerance, they decided they wanted more than that, they wanted acceptance. Here you see some artifacts from the mattis shooen society, a matchbook which would be passed on to people who they thought were likeminded people. A secret way to say, are you gay . I am too. Lets talk about it. Here is a legal book that was published for gay people arrested, gave them advice about their rights. Over here you see some early pioneering lgbtq publications such as the mattis sheen review, the ladder, which was put out by the daughters of alightus, and won a famous First Amendment case in the stream court when the post office was refusing to distribute it. The Supreme Court decided they had the right to publish. Next, the main gallery of this exhibit. Right now were in sort of area right before the main gallery of rise up, stonewall and the lgbtq rights movement. We decided that Popular Culture was a good place to start. Popular cultures plays such an Important Role in shaping attitudes. Early on in 1961, the first images that you see of homosexuals, bauz thats what guy people were called back then, is in a pbs documentary aired in San Francisco, talked about sexuality as an issue, a problem. You see more lgbtq people being represented in sports, on television, in movies. Heres Martina Navra til low vaus tennis racket. Shes a champion who comes out as being gay. Rock hudson, famous hollywood celebrity who reveals he is dying of a. I. D. S. , a huge earthquake in Popular Culture and in the lchlk bkt rights movement. Then you saw in philadelphia tom hanks portrays a man with a. I. D. S. In an academy awar winning movie and we have the script signed by the cast members. Ellen degen rus who comes out on the cover of Time Magazine, her show was canceled soon after that, she received Death Threats because of it. Nonetheless that movement in time is seen as a powerful moment, a Forward Movement for the lgbtq rights community. Then you have more shows like will and grace, even Vice President biden spoke about the tv show will and grace as doing more to get more americans used to the idea of samesex major. They theyd invited people into their living rooms. We have movies like brokeback mountain, modern family, hugely popular sitcom. And then of course Caitlyn Jenner coming out on the cover of vanity fair as a transgender woman. These are all moments in time that moved attitudes about the movement that brought popular understanding to the issues that the Lgbtq Community was facing. Next were going to walk into the main gallery and were going to see what happened at the Stonewall Inn 50 years ago in the summer of 1969. Now were going to go back to a hot summer night to Greenwich Village in new york city, stonewall in. Not a particularly nice bar. Brings were watered down. Run by the mafia. It was a place gay people could come and dand an sosh lice. Back then it was illegal to be seen showing affection in public. They could dance together here. The stonewall prayed on the gay wall street brokers who socialized there. Not the nicest place but it was a place gay people could call their own. So theres a Police Crackdown on such illegal establishments going on. When police came in and started raiding the bar and informationing people out of it, they were a little bit rough with a lesbian and through her out on to the streets, and the crowd went wild. This was kind of a pent up feeling by the people there at the stonewall. Police had been harassing gay people for a long time, arresting them for showing affection in public. Weve got the youth movement, counterculture, sexual revolution is happening, and people arent going to take it. Theyre done with not being who they are, not being accepted, theyre just fed up. So this starts six nights of on andoff uprising, rioting, glass throwing, brick throwing, interactiontions with police. You see here here was a headline in the mainstream immediate dwrau. You see how dismissive the mainstream publications are of gay people. Homo nest raided, queenbies stinging mad. The Mainstream Media didnt cover this for a couple of days. Several days of fights and rioting going on in Greenwich Village until theyre paying attention. We have some historic publications from the museums of how the Gay Rights Movement was covered by others. We have the advocate which is an early publication based in l. A. You have the ladder, a lesbian publication that reported on uprising at a bar in the california region. And then you have mainstream publications starting to Pay Attention and say, what is going on . Time magazine a few months after stonewall has a cover, homosexual in america, never before have homosexuals been in the forefront of the conversation of whats going on in the united states. Out of this moment springs forth what we call the modern lgbtq rights movement. We organize this not so much chronologically as much as themes. The next theme, fighting for the right to work and serve. We come to the story of frank camma nine, a har vaurtd educated man, government employee, fired for solicitation, a charge commonly use the against gay people. They wouldnt fight back because of the repurr kurgss from fighting back for a crime. You could lose your job, your neighbors would distance you, if you were a parent you could lose your children. To be gay was to live a life of fear and secrecy. Frank decided he was going to fight back against government rules against gay people. Indeed president eisenhower signed a law into effect that homosexuals could not be hired by the federal government. Frank decided there should be no reason for a law, homeo zbloiks waulz deserved to work in the federal government and anywhere else. He organized a series of protesters where people who were gay would picket in front of the white house and the Civil Service commission, going public with signs such as this, america, the land of opportunity for homeo zbloiks waulz too. Quarter million federal employees protest, the kifbl Service Commission is the organization who controls who gets fired by the federal government. Hes considered a father of the lgbt q rights movement. Were going to around the corner and talk about barbara giddings. She took it upon herself to fight back against the American Psychiatric association which has deemed homosexuality a mental illness. She was diagnosed as being homosexual. She did research about what that meant and found out that homosexual people were frequently institutionlized, had electroshock treatment and various other horrible things that could happen to people like herself. She thought there was something very wrong about that. She took on the American Psychiatric association. In 1972 she appeared at their convention in dallas, texas and o spoke on a panel with a gay psychiatrist who was so fearful of the repper kugss of coming out and speaking publicly as a gay person that he wore this mask. Barra had an information booth. You see the sign. That gave positive images of what gay people were about. A year later the association took away the designation of homeo sexuality as being a mental illness. Frank sent a letter saying, its a miracle. Weve been cured. Next well talk about harvey milk, one of the pioneering lgbtq people to be elected to office in the united states. Harvey milk was elected to the San Francisco board of survivors in 1967. He proceeded to get various laws passed. He served for about a year before he was brutally cut down. He was assassinate the by a former policeman and commissioner himself. In this case you can see an envelope that was found in milks jacket, and you can sigh the bullet holes that were left in that card that he had written to somebody. The light sentence that the person who shot harvey milk and mayor George Moscone received, that resulted in the white night riots when people were coming forth with fury and frustration at the lack of attention toward the death of this pioneering figure in lgbtq history. In this case we have artifacts from tammy balt win and barney frank, pioneering congress persons. She was the first openly gay woman elected to congress. This is the red suit she wore when she was elected to the wisconsin legislature. Here we have a news week magazine with barney frank. He had served before he came out as being a gay person. The citizens of massachusetts reelected him several more times. After he left office he married his longtime partner jim ready, this is a button that they handed out at their wedding. Were going to walk around the corner and explore the story of lj bakt activists fighting for the right to serve in the military. In 1974 leonard mat low vetch was he had the bronze star. He decided to challenge the militarys ban. Working with frank camminy, he decides to push back against the air force. They discharged him and offered him a settlement instead of deciding to change its policy. You see this persons brave stance going on the cover of Time Magazine in 1975 saying, i am a homosexual, the first gay person to appear on the cover of Time Magazine. These stories start to chip away at attitudes that prevented gay people from serving in the military. You can see some News Coverage of the repeal of dont ask, dont tell. Thats a policy the Clinton Administration that allowed gay people to serve in the military as long as they were quiet about who they were and what their Sexual Orientation was. Up here you see the gavel nancy pelosi used to repeal that in 2010. Out of stonewall comes a new era of milltancy and cloud clout for the Gay Rights Movement. Protesters called zaps were provocative, to get pros coverage, to the activists were fighting for. You had groups like the gay raiders out of philadelphia who actually got themselves onto the cbs evening news with walter cronkite, got on the stage and had a protest as americans watched their evening newscast. The protesters said cronkite took time to talk to them after the news to see what their issues were and changed the way cbs covered them. Various groups and nationalities feel their stories arent being told by the Mainstream Press. They frequently start their own newspapers and magazines. Here you see gay activist, the lesbian tide. Many many publications rose up out of the stonewall area. Gilbert baker called himself the gay betsy ross when he was encouraged to come up with a symbol of the movement. This is the sewing machine on which he created the original flag. This flag isnt the original, but its one of the first of that flag, of that template. Next were going to go in and talk about the aids crisis and how that activated and mobilized our lgbtqactivists. In every movement you see signs of progress and then pushback. After this incredible spirit of openness, gay people being public about their sexuality, who they were, their Sexual Orientation, protesting in the streets, quickly on the heels of that comes the aids crisis. In the early 1980s stories about aids, this Mysterious Illness that is striking gay men in los angeles and new york comes to the forefront in Gay Publications first. Quickly the Mainstream Press catches up, but the early headlines, because no one knows what causes aids, are really more fear mongering than anybody else and leads to the Lgbtq Community being further ost tra ostracized. It wasnt incredibly welcoming to be gay staff on a major newspaper. Both of these journalists reported about the aids crisis and both of them succumbed to aids as well. It wasnt until 1992 that drugs were found that made aids not a death sentence, but a disease that people could live with. Here you saw again gay activists using the very flamboyant provocative protests. Here you see the dieins. There were protests outside the fda were activists were advocating for drugs to come to market quicker, for more research from the government. The Gay Community was providing meals, information about drug trials and organizations like act up and other organizations are really advocating for people with aids and for the community as a whole. More than 362,000 americans died of aid before treatment for it became widespread in the late 1990s. To illustrate that story, we have a section of the aids quilt. The aids project in 1997 the aids crisis is really not over. This is a piece of the quilt that tells the story of a transgender woman in atlanta who died in 2016. Her name was Cheryl Courtney evans. Next were going to go to a section that talks about samesex marriage and the role that faith and religion played in that. Some faith communities welcomed members of the Gay Community, but not all. In 1977 dade county, florida, joined about a dozen other communities in passing legislation aimed to prevent discrimination about gay people in housing and other areas. Anita bryant was a christian singer and a spokeswoman for the florida orange juice industry. She thought this law would end up having children corrupted by the Gay Community. So she fought back against it with the save the children community. Here you see the creativity of the lgbtq activists who fought back against anita bryant. In this case you see an album put out by olivia records, a lesbian record label. Bartenders stopped selling screwdrivers which were drinks made with orange juice and vodka. Orange juice sales plummeted as a result. Bartenders started serving the drink they called the anita bryant, which was apple juice and vodka instead. Then you see faith people like the reverend Jerry Fallwell and billy graham, powerful evangelical leaders blaming gay people for the aids crisis. Again, a setback for the community because these powerful spokesmen of faith are pushing back against the community and their essential rights. Next were going to come to the section about the historic ruling that led to samesex marriage being made legal across the country. The First Amendment gives every american the power to petition the government for change if there are policies or laws or things happening that they do not like. Thats really evidenced throughout this kpibexhibit. A man has bed had pl mr. Art months later but he wanted him to be listed as a surviving spouse on john arthurs death certificate. So he joined 14 couples and a view other widowers in a Supreme Court case that in 2015 made samesex marriage legal across the country. In this case you can see the jacket that he wore on his wedding day, the bow tie that he wore on announcement day and the fused wedding rings of his and john arthurs. He had them fused together with some of john arthurs ashes after he died. These artifacts were the first artifacts we got on loan from this exhibit. Its a really powerful statement because at its essence this exhibit is about who you have the right to love. So these are powerful exhibits that tell the story of how Everyday Americans petitioned the government for change, using their First Amendment freedoms. The struggle for samesex marriage was a decadeslong process. Here in this case you see in 1953 the pioneering lgbtq publication one puts on its cover homosexual marriage, question mark. Its not until decades later that the Supreme Court ruling makes samesex marriage legal across the country. There are many players who played a role in chipping away at attitudes that prevented samesex marriage. She was with her partner for many years. When she died edith was stuck with a rather large inheritance tax bill. She decided she was going to challenge the irs saying she was being denied the same rights that heterosexual couples had. Here you see posters that were used by protesters who were heralding the Supreme Court decision that Edith Windsor took part in. On the wall across here you see some really iconic figures who 50 years ago would never have been open about their Sexual Orientation, their sexuality. We call this wall once rejected, now embraced. You see how attitudes from changed. These are people who are much admired for who they are and what they do. Here at the museum, our mission is to promote understanding of the importance of the free press and the First Amendment. We hope more people will come and visit this exhibit because stonewall, the events at stonewall and rise up, stonewall and the lgbtq rights movement, really tells the story of how Everyday Americans used their First Amendment freedoms, freedom of press, religion, assembly, petition, speech, to rise up, act up, push back and advocate for change. Thats what were all about here at the museum, explaining to people the story of the First Amendment. This movement, the story of the lgbtq movement, really embodies everything about the First Amendment. You can watch this or other american artifacts programs at any time by visiting our website cspan. Org history. All week were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Lectures in history, american artifacts, reel america, the civil war, oral histories, the presidency, and special event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan3. Next, historian david farber looks at the 50th anniversary of the woodstock music festival, a 3day rock concert that attracted half a Million People to a dairy farm in upstate new york. Hes the author of the age of great dreams,