Copyright 2011 Kwame A. Holmes CHOCOLATE TO RAINBOW CITY: THE DIALECTICS OF BLACK AND GAY COMMUNITY FORMATION IN POSTWAR WASHINGTON, D.C., 1946-1978 BY KWAME A. HOLMES DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee Professor James R. Barrett, Chair Professor Orville Vernon Burton, co-Chair Associate Professor Siobhan Somerville Professor John D‘Emilio Abstract This dissertation historicizes popular assumptions which frame ―black‖ and ―gay‖ as exclusive urban identities and which brand black urban communities as embodiments of economic failure, disorderly heterosexuality and criminality and gay communities as embodiments of economic success, safety, urban renewal and whiteness. In order to denaturalize these assumptions my dissertation explores the material, political and discursive processes through which two adjacent Washington, D.C. geographies, Shaw and DuPont Circle, came to be understood as ―black‖ and ―gay‖ neighborhoods between the end of World War II and the 1978 mayoral election. The racial and sexual complexity of the populations who lived and traveled through DuPont Circle and Shaw in these years belie the ease with which Washingtonians map and inscribe homogenous racial and sexual identities onto them in the present day. I argue that the social movements formed by black and gay activists after World War II to combat both institutional structures of oppression and stigmatizing discourses that justified oppression became stages for redefinitions of the public meaning of ―black‖ and ―gay‖ in the urban context. As postwar logics of mass consumption and commodification came to dominate the way Americans understood the difference between citizens and non-citizens, black and gay movements used claims to particular neighborhoods to rebrand themselves as deserving participants in American life. However, severe economic stratification between the neighborhoods where ―black‖ and ―gay‖ identities were inscribed made activist coalition between black and gay movements impossible and contributed to popular notions that blackness and gayness operated on the urban landscape in oppositional ways. While there may have been an opportunity for black and gay movements to work together, the politicization of the urban landscape as well as the intensification of racial and economic stratification in the postwar era necessarily limited the kinds of narratives black and gay social movements could tell about who belonged within their political constituency or ii who was truly ―black‖ or ―gay.‖ This project then is less concerned with black and gay activism or agency around specific institutional oppressions. Instead, my dissertation interrogates the possibilities and limitations for stigmatized urban groups to rewrite public discourses that blamed them for the decline of the American city. iii Acknowledgements So often, writing a dissertation feels like a solitary endeavor, but without the support of a ―village‖ of mentors, colleagues, friends and family from around the country this dissertation would not have come to fruition. My thanks here can only scratch the surface of the debt of gratitude I owe and hope to pay forward one day. I must begin by thanking the funding organizations that have supported my research, teaching and writing. Thank you to the Office of Educational Equity, the National Science Foundation‘s GK-12 program, the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am indebted to the many librarians and archivists who assisted me in my research over the past two years. My thanks to the staffs of the Kiplinger Research Library at the Historical Society of Washington, the Gelman Collection at the George Washington University Library and the Washingtoniana Division at the Martin Luther King Public Library in Washington, D.C. My dissertation would not exist without the work of Mark Meinke. Ten years ago, Mark took it upon himself to found the Rainbow History Project with the explicit goal of ―preserving the history‖ of Washington, D.C.‘s LGBTQ community. While Washington, D.C.‘s queer history has always been rich, prior to the Rainbow History Project, scholars had scant resources to pursue their interests in uncovering and analyzing D.C.‘s queer past. With little help from others, Mark conducted hundreds of interviews, compiled tens of thousands of documents, crafted critical database resources and forged a critical relationship with the Historical Society of Washington. Mark did all of this with little interest in earning acclaim, fortune or even a graduate degree. Rather, he did it for the love of D.C.‘s complex and diverse queer community. I, and every scholar invested iv in LGBTQ history, owes him a debt of gratitude. Thank you Mark, I feel fortunate to call you a friend. Thanks also to Rebecca Dolinsky and Phillip Clarke who have taken over the reins at Rainbow History and who are wonderful stewards of D.C. LGBTQ history in their own right. Throughout my graduate career I have been privileged to be a part of reading groups and interdisciplinary writing seminars that enriched my thinking and afforded me space to air out my ideas. I would like to thank the members of my first research seminar, run by Professor Barrett in the fall of 2004. Many participants in that seminar were regulars at the Working Class History Reading Group, a graduate organized reading seminar that offered me a safe space to present my ideas in their nascent stages. My thanks to the faculty members who were regular participants in the group, Mark Leff and Kathy Oberdeck. As well as the graduate students who hosted our meetings and made up the backbone of its participants. Thank you, Tom Mackaman, Mike Rosenow, Will Cooley, Melissa Rohde, Janine Giordano Drake, Jason Kozlowski, Anthony Sigismondi, Julilly Kohler Hausmann, Stephanie Seawell, Kerry Pimblott, Martin Smith, Emily Pope Obeda, Zachary Sell, Anna Kurhajec and Ian Hartman. During the 2010-2011 academic year I was fortunate enough to be a part of three life changing reading groups. All of which were critical in shaping the direction my dissertation project would take; The Newberry Urban History Seminar, the Queer Studies Reading Group and the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities fellows‘ seminar. My thanks to Kathryn Wegner who helped me to co-coordinate the Newberry group this year. Though I joined the Queer Studies Reading Group a little late in the game, I am so happy I did. Not only did I learn so much, but I made wonderful friends. Thank you to, Ryan Jones, Peter Campbell, Michelle Salerno, T.J. Tallie, Sarah Cassinelli, Mel Stanfill, Jean Lee, Durell Callier, Ricky Rodriguez, Martin Manalansan and Chantal Nadeau. v I cannot express the unmitigated thrill it was to be chosen as a Nicholson fellow with the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities. This honor not only offered me the time and space to complete my dissertation, the monthly fellows seminars were laboratories of inspiration. I left each with new ideas and methodological approaches that enriched my work. For that I must thank my 2010-2011 IPRH family, Bruce Levine, Tamara Chaplin, Erik McDuffie, Tim Cain, Ryan Griffis, Audrey Petter, Patricia Goldsworthy-Smith, Nicholas Brown, Urmitapa Dutta, Elizabeth Hoiem, Cory Holding, Nile Blunt, Kristine Nielsen, Jeffrey Droun and Sarah Frohardt-Lane. The graduate faculty in the department of history has been wonderfully supportive of my dissertation project. David Roediger, Eizabeth Pleck and Erik McDuffie were kind enough to read proposals, chapters and conference papers that were integrated into this dissertation. Thank you all for your feedback. Professor Roediger, in particular, went above and beyond the call of duty in supporting my project over the past few years. I am extremely grateful to the group of scholars that sat on my committee and who have mentored me over the past 8 years. John D‘Emilio and Siobhan Somerville brought a wealth of experience and knowledge on queer studies to the table. Their questions, challenges and insights have enriched this project and opened my eyes to its potential in the future. Throughout my tenure through the program I have been fortunate enough to be guided by two co-advisors Vernon Burton and Jim Barrett. Few scholars are more invested in their student‘s success than Professor Burton. He doggedly pursued funding opportunities on my behalf and was always there to hear out my ever shifting ideas about the dissertation project. More than that, Professor Burton opened the doors of his home and family to me from the moment I arrived on campus. Both he and his wife Georganne have stood by me during trying personal times. I will be forever indebted to their grace and kindness. Jim Barrett is not only a model scholar, but represents the kind of academic mentor I aspire to emulate in the future. Equal parts intellectually rigorous and patient Jim gave me the space vi to allow my ideas to develop organically and pushed me only to realize the best possible dissertation within the goals I set for myself. Over the last 8 years I have not only formed relationships with colleagues I have made the closest friends I have in this world. Were I to communicate how special each one of you is to me this acknowledgements page would balloon to the size of a small dissertation chapter. All I will say is that you‘ve each taught me the meaning of friendship in your own way. Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives, Robyn Carter, John Stevenson, Bobby Robinson, William Kinsella, Ian Hartman, Ed Onaci, Sarah Frohardt-Lane, Anna Kurhajec, Brandon Mills, Amy Hasinoff, Julilly Kohler-Hausman, Melissa Prentice, Anthony Sigismondi, Brian Yates and Erica Hill-Yates.