The Group of Washington
I just watched a YouTube video of Ta-Nehisi Coates interviewing Barry Jenkins at The Atlantic LGBTQ Summit in DC, November 2016. It's titled, "Unfinished Business: Masculinity in the Moonlight." It was a great discussion. And I realized that I hadn't explicitly posted about black gay men in 1968.
Back in the fall, I reached out to the Rainbow History Project. They pointed me to an oral history interview with James "Juicy" Coleman, pictured above. He and other Howard University students formed "The Group of Washington," a social club for gay men, in 1968. According to the Rainbow History Project website, "The Group organized house parties and held signature events in local hotels; the Group's signature event was the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Annual Scandal."
I'm looking forward to listening to the interview.
Were you a member of "The Group" or a different club? Did you attend one of the signature events?
Please comment below or share here. Will O'Bryan, The Party Line: Revisiting the Best of Washington's past, finding a path to the future." 13 February 2008
