This month, the GLAM Center for Collaborative Teaching and Learning’s featured collection celebrates LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer + other groups) Pride. This year’s Pride Month marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, widely considered to be the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Here at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, our Archives Research Center has been making a concerted effort to increase the amount of collections related to LGBTQ+ material in order to more accurately reflect the breadth of the African American community. For decades the LGBTQ+ community at the AUC, as they were in the rest of the country, remained silent and hidden. The Archives Research Center is committed to expanding our collections to increase LGBTQ+ representation, recognizing the value these collections provide as a scholarly resource.
![Josephine Baker stands between Harold Jackman and Noble Sissle](https://glamauc.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/auc.034.0023_001.jpg)
From left to right: Harold Jackman, Josephine Baker, and Noble Sissle
Our featured collection highlights many photographs from our Countee Cullen-Harold Jackman Memorial Collection of black entertainers including Josephine Baker and Bessie Smith. The collection also contains correspondence from writer James Baldwin and a poem from Angelina Grimké. Additionally, the Archives Research Center holds a collection of BLK, a monthly magazine published from 1988 to 1994 with the motto “where the news is colored on purpose,” which covered people, events, and issues relevant to LBGT African American readers.
![BLK magazine cover featuring RuPaul standing next to a seated Santa Claus with the tagline "RuPaul: Gag on the Glamour"](https://glamauc.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/auc.xxx_.0005.jpeg)
1993 cover of BLK Magazine featuring drag icon, RuPaul
Due to the sensitive nature of some materials, we have opted to digitize a small sampling of our collection to share online. If you’re interested in viewing more of our LGBTQ+ materials, please contact the Archives Research Center at archives@auctr.edu to make an appointment.