Saturday, March 13, 2010 | Richmond, VA’s Webmagazine for GLBTQ

Bayard Rustin, Civil Rights Pioneer

Posted 02.22.10 at 6:30AM by The Rainbow Minute in Community

Bayard Taylor Rustin was a major player in the civil rights movement. He planned the 1963 March on Washington, which brought more than two hundred thousand people to the nation’s capital to demonstrate for civil rights. It was there that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Had a Dream” speech.

Rustin was much influenced by a trip he took to India in 1948 where he learned of Mahatma Gandhi’s success with non-violent activism. When he became Martin Luther King’s major advisor and mentor, Rustin inspired King to dedicate himself to fighting by non-violent means.

Because Rustin was known to be gay, many white and African-American leaders insisted King distance himself from Rustin. This forced Rustin to work behind-the-scenes, but he nonetheless had a paramount role in the effort to end racial segregation and racial discrimination.

“The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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Having a Ball in Harlem

Posted 02.19.10 at 6:30AM by The Rainbow Minute in Community
During the 1920’s and 30’s in Harlem, one of the social events of the year for gays was The Hamilton Lodge Ball. But this was no ordinary ball – it was a drag ball at the regal Rockland Palace, organized by Lodge #710 of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows.
Both men and women could be cross-dressed for the night, but only because organizers got police permits in advance. The event would draw thousands, most of them black.
The highlight of the night, of course, was the beauty contest – in which the fashionably-dressed drags would compete for the title of Queen of the Ball. A rip-roaring good time, the events were called “Spectacles of color” by poet Langston Hughes.
Harlem socialites and the white avant-garde filled the ballroom’s balconies to take it all in.

“The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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Entertainers of Harlem

Posted 02.18.10 at 6:30AM by The Rainbow Minute in Community

In the 1920’s, Harlem developed as an uptown alternative to New York City’s Greenwich Village, and a place where one could go to experience those “in the life.” There in nightclubs, female entertainers sang of gay desire.

Gladys Bentley was a bisexual male impersonator, wearing her signature white tuxedo and top hat. Putting risque lyrics to popular melodies, she flirted with women in the audience.

Ma Rainey made no secret of her relationships with women, and her songs sometimes had explicit lesbian content. She became known as “Mother of the Blues.”

Bessie Smith also crooned of lesbian desire, as in, “It’s Dirty But Good.” She even got in trouble with her husband over an affair with a chorus girl in her show.

Suddenly, same-sex desire was part and parcel of a cultural explosion.

“The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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Writers of the Harlem Renaissance

Posted 02.17.10 at 6:30AM by The Rainbow Minute in Community

Many of the intellectual figures of the Harlem Renaissance were “in the life,” meaning primarily attracted to members of the opposite sex. This included Alain Loche, who as editor of the publication, “New Negro,” brought his group of writers to the wider public. Through letters, Locke urged Countee Cullen to write poetry aimed at bettering the race. Locke also spurred on Langston Hughes, who became a leading poet.

Some historians have criticized Loche for promoting the careers of young black males to the obvious neglect of black females. Regardless, some black female writers from that era have finally received their place in African-American literary history. They include poet Angelina Weld Grimke, and fiction and poetry writer, Alice Dunbar-Nelson.

“The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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In The Life

Posted 02.16.10 at 6:30AM by The Rainbow Minute in History

Many of the intellectual figures of the Harlem Renaissance were primarily attracted to members of the same sex. They were said to be, “in the life.”

It became fashionable for white party-goers from Manhattan to seek the exotic, unrestrained nightlife of Harlem, where social restrictions were left at the door. They went to basement speakeasies or to cabarets like the Cotton Club. There, black entertainers rubbed elbows with homosexuals and transvestites, which was considered quite chic.
Many party goers were gay themselves, meeting in Harlem bars that catered to the black and white, the heterosexual and homosexual.
Harlem was flourishing, and had emerged as a center of black American music, literature and art.

“The Rainbow Minute,” a radio show on WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio, is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and airs on 97.3 FM every Weekday at 9:03am, 12:30pm and 4:30pm.  Listen to the WRIR’s audio stream here.

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