14 Books & Resources to Learn about Pre-Stonewall LGBTQ History in Chicago
By Quinn Sluzenski Since 2022, I’ve led Read & Run Chicago’s annual tour of the classic lesbian pulp novel The Girls in 3-B by Valerie Taylor in collaboration with community partners Gerber/Hart Library and Archives.
On this tour, I guide runners through the Gold Coast/Near North area and stop at real-life queer hangouts from Chicago history and discuss characters from The Girls in 3-B. Through Valerie Taylor’s 1950s-era story of three small-town Midwestern Girls—Annice, Pat, and Barby— we discuss themes like work, love, independence. This year, our tour was on Tuesday, June 25.
If you’re interested in further context for Valerie Taylor’s work—whether you will join our running tour or not!—or if you’re curious about what life was like for queer people in the pre-Stonewall era, this list is for you! I’ve put together a collection of book recommendations and supplementary exhibits (both in-person and online) that center around those experiences, especially for Chicagoans.
Here are 14 books and resources to learn more about pre-Stonewall LGBTQ history in Chicago.
October 2022: Running Tour of Valerie Taylor’s The Girls in 3-B.
Thanks to Jen Dentel from Gerber/Hart Library and Archives for her lecture about lesbian pulp fiction and Valerie Taylor, and thanks to Open Books West Loop for hosting us!
Books
Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall by St. Sukie de la Croix
St. Sukie de la Croix’s book on pre-Stonewall Chicago is an excellent place to start learning about the art, politics, and everyday life of queer eras past. It’s a birds-eye view that dives into plenty of individual stories along the way.
Last Call Chicago: A History of 1001 LGBTQ-Friendly Taverns, Haunts & Hangouts by Rick Karlin and St. Sukie de la Croix
Speaking of de la Croix! Those who attended our The Girls in 3-B run know that LGBTQ+ bars have been central to our history for generations. These gathering places provided safe places–often the only safe places–for queer people to be themselves and connect with their community. Last Call Chicago, written with Rick Karlin, provides a roadmap of bars from the 1920s to the 2020s.
Different Daughters: a History of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Rights of the Lesbian Rights Movement by Marcia Gallo
Valerie Taylor, the trailblazing activist and author of The Girls in 3-B, was a member of the Daughters of Bilitis, the world’s first organization dedicated to furthering lesbian rights. You can read about the rise of this group with first-hand accounts of dozens of former DOB members.
Queer Legacies: Stories from Chicago’s LGBTQ Archives by John D’Emilio
The book inspiring one of the first Read & Run Chicago running tours is also great for pre-Stonewall history. Reading Queer Legacies is like wandering through the archives of Gerber/Hart and letting the collections tell you their stories. John D’Emilio, a leading historian of queer Chicago, digs deep into the individual people and collective movements that shaped fifty years of LGBTQ+ Chicago.
Runners with author John D’Emilio at our June 2021 running tour of Queer Legacies.
Do You Remember House?: Chicago's Queer of Color Undergrounds by Micah Salkind
On our running tour we stopped at the former location of the Warehouse, which wasn’t in the novel but is a crucial piece of history from the 1970s that helps us start to bridge the closet of the 1950s to now. Do You Remember House? is for anyone interested in learning more about Chicago’s queer, black, and Latino social dancers.
Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers by Lillian Faderman
If you’d like to zoom out of Chicago and zoom in on sapphic history, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers is a comprehensive history of lesbians in 20th century America. Faderman traces the changing notions of identity and community across a hundred years and innumerable lesbian subcultures.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches and Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
It’s impossible to discuss American sapphic history without talking about Audre Lorde. Lorde is a legendary writer and activist who was in her 20s in the 1950s, the same age as the protagonists of The Girls in 3-B. Lorde’s most famous collection (Sister Outsider) and biomythography (Zami) work as reflections on and of growing up in this time, from a different perspective than The Girls in 3-B’s white, middle-class youth.
P.S. You can check out all of these books at Gerber/Hart or purchase via Read & Run Chicago’s online book partner, Allstora!
Other Materials
Mattachine Midwest and Valerie Taylor - Gerber/Hart
For the chance to read primary sources and official archival papers about Valerie Taylor and Mattachine Midwest, talk to a staff member or volunteer at Gerber/Hart about seeing some of the archive collections.
De-Coded: Surviving the Law as a Sexual Deviant - Gerber/Hart
While you’re at Gerber/Hart, check out the current exhibit about the ways that LGBTQ+ people survived under targeting from the law. Valerie Taylor is featured!
Queer Bronzeville
Tristan Cabello’s online exhibit on queer Bronzeville captures decades of stories from African American gays and lesbians on Chicago's South Side.
Black Lesbian Archives
The Black Lesbian Archives is an ongoing project based in the Midwest. Kru Maeko, the founder, is in the process of developing a BLA mobile herstory bus project.
Audre Lorde - To be young, lesbian and Black in the '50s
More Audre Lorde! In this excellent interview, Lorde describes her experiences as a Black lesbian in the 1950s.
Out of the Closets and into the Streets
We started our Girls in 3-B running tour at Washington Square Park, which has a deep history with the LGBTQ+ rights movement in Chicago. This Zoom roundtable dives into this 1970s history.
LGBTQ History Before Stonewall Chicago Public Library Reading List
Still looking for more books? Check out this booklist created by a Chicago Public Library reader about pre-Stonewall LGBTQ+ history!