On Monday, August 5, Wisconsin dedicated and revealed its first LGBTQ historic marker on the 63rd anniversary of the Black Nite uprising. This marker, located in Milwaukee at the corner of N. Plankinton and E. St. Paul Avenues, commemorates a fight between four servicemen and a black trans woman (the servicemen lost) that predated the Stonewall uprising, also one where black trans women led the charge, by eight years. According to Urban Milwaukee, “The event takes its name from the Black Nite bar, which was a well-known gay bar and the site of the attack. The marker currently sits on a median between the freeway and E. St. Paul Avenue, which is just west of where the now-gone Black Nite bar stood at 400 N. Plankinton Avenue. The tavern was one of several properties cleared to build Interstate 794 through Downtown.”
The marker reads:
On August 5, 1961, four servicemen went on a homophobic dare to the Black Nite (400 N. Plankinton Ave.) a well-known LGBTQ tavern. After losing a fight with Josie Carter (1941–2014) a black woman of trans experience, the men vowed to return and “clean up” the bar.
“We do not run from a fight,” Josie replied. “We do not run from anything.”
Josie’s courage was a call to action. When the servicemen returned later that night, they faced over 70 customers who heroically defended their safe space from invasion.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and Mayor Cavalier Johson both presented official proclamations recognizing the Black Nite Uprising. Peter Burgelis, the first out-LGBTQ member of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, spoke to the importance of the marker, noting that “the LGBTQ community hasn’t always enjoyed vocal support from state and local government,” according to Urban Milwaukee.
This marker is not only the first one in Wisconsin to commemorate an event within the LGBTQ community, it is also the first to recognize a Black transgender woman, according to Tony Snell Rodriguez, who continues by saying, “The historic marker is a powerful symbol of visibility and representation, particularly for our Black transgender siblings, who have faced extraordinary challenges and yet continue to demonstrate incredible resilience and strength.”
This marker’s existence is largely due to the work of the Wisconsin LGBTQ History project, whose members Michail Takach, a frequent contributor to Our Lives, and Ricardo Wynn, “did the legwork to corroborate the story of the uprising using contemporaneous public records, newspaper clippings, and interviews with other first-person witnesses,” according to Urban Milwaukee. The site was submitted for nomination by Takach back in 2022.
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