FAN FAVORITE: Stonewall | Why Don't You Do Something? | 3
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What is the historical context of the LGBTQ rights movement before the Stonewall raid?
Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. We're hard at work on our 100th season of American History Tellers coming up. But in the meantime, we're revisiting a fan favorite, our season about the Stonewall Uprising. And for listeners who would like to learn more about queer history, we recommend the new Audible original, The Pansy Craze. In this six-part, live-recorded podcast variety show, co-creator and host Mason Alexander Park transports audiences through time to tell raucous stories of queer history that none of us learned in school. You can listen to The Pansy Craze right now, only on Audible.
Imagine it's June 28th, 1969, the blurry hours where Friday turns into Saturday. You're a young gay rights activist named Craig Rodwell, who runs a bookstore in Greenwich Village. Tonight, you're walking home down Christopher Street with your boyfriend, Fred. Oh, it's crazy that it's this hot right now. What is it, one in the morning? We've only gone two blocks and look, I'm drenched. Yes, it's hot. It's June. What's eating you? That whole card game and you barely said a word. Bridge partners are supposed to help each other out, you know. No, I'm sorry. I'm just not thinking about cards right now. Well, what is it? Say it. Don't stew on it. I just keep thinking about how they let that cop go free. He shot and killed a man down by the waterfront.
Kill a gay man and you just get put right back in circulation. Oh, yeah, that. I know, it's terrible. Yes, it is terrible. But it's all part of the same thing. Gay men are targeted every single day in the city and there's no one to protect them. Who's going to police the police? You can't fight back. They throw you in jail. You can't cause a scene. You end up on an FBI list or something. But you're trying to help your magazine, your bookstore. I just don't know what good any of my help is doing. Even Mattachine. We're all just taking these tiny little baby steps. But towards what? Well, acceptance, equality. Sure, but those are just words right now. If you just keep thinking about words long enough, they lose all their meanings.
As you get closer to the stone wall, you can hear faint traces of music coming from inside. There's a dozen or so people on the sidewalk just ahead of you, smoking cigarettes and chatting. Fred stops abruptly, though. Hey, hold up. Those cops in Christopher Park, see them? Over by the trees? In the darkness, you can just make out their figures, standing in the shadows near a streetlight. They're right across the street from the stone wall, just like a gang hiding in the bushes. And just then, the whole group of police emerge from the shadows and hurry across Christopher Street to the front door of the Stonewall. Fred turns to you. I think we should get out of here. No, no, no. Wait, hold on. The small crowd of revelers on the sidewalk splits apart as the police force their way through the front door of the Stonewall.
There must be at least eight cops. You can feel Fred next to you getting tense with anger. God, look at them raiding another bar. Yeah, but something feels different about this. Some of the Stonewall patrons outside start to leave, but a lot of them haven't. They're standing around, not going anywhere. And then a police wagon rounds the corner. No siren. It comes to a stop in front of the bar. You don't know what's about to happen, but this is definitely a planned police operation. You turn to Fred. Okay, come here. Let's get up on this stoop. Five minutes. Let's just stay for five minutes. Fred reluctantly follows you up a few steps, and the two of you take a seat. No one's leaving. You see that? They just cried out it's a raid, but no one's going anywhere.
And it's true, even with a police wagon pulling up to the curb, no one is going anywhere. There's a tension in the air, an odd feeling as you watch the crowd start to pace and jostle. This is different. This is something new. This might just be resistance.
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
What is the historical context of the LGBTQ rights movement before the Stonewall raid?
0:00–10:46
2
Why did the police decide to raid the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969?
10:46–22:43
3
How did early LGBTQ activists like Craig Rodwell and the Mattachine Society try to fight discrimination?
22:43–44:40