Milwaukee set to designate site of 1961 LGBTQ uprising a historical landmark
Milwaukee is set to designate the Black Nite, the site of an LGBTQ uprising in 1961, a historic landmark.
In the early evening hours of Aug. 5, 1961, Josie Carter was sitting at the bar in the Black Nite, a gay tavern in Milwaukee, doing her makeup in her bathrobe.
Later that evening, she would lead bar patrons as they fought back against a group of Navy service members in what some historians believe could be the first recorded LGBTQ uprising in the country.
Josie Carter rounded up patrons to fight back during the Black Nite brawl.Wisconsin LGBTQ History ProjectThe event became known as the Black Nite brawl, and though the bar itself is no longer standing, the Milwaukee County Landmarks Committee is expected to designate the site a historic landmark.
Historian Michail Takach, who nominated the bar for landmark recognition, said the Black Nite brawl was almost lost to history, in part because Carter was so modest and humble that she didn’t want herself or the event commemorated while she was alive. She died in 2014 at the age of 73.
“This is a remarkable story for a trans woman of color to have changed history the way she did, especially because she exhibited throughout her life so much Midwestern modesty that no one would have ever guessed that she really did this,” said Takach, who is the co-founder of the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project and interviewed Carter about the event. “It does show that when people take a stand regardless of the risks and consequences, they can change history.”
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