#zpgrewe

Connection was a black literary journal published by Pittsburgh’s Afro-American Institute in the late 60s and early 70s. The journal featured the work of local black writers and artists and was emblematic of the rich black activism and consciousness raising of the time. 

The journal also features the creative and editorial talents of two famous Pittsburgh artists and activists:  August Wilson and Sala Udin.  August Wilson served as the poetry editor for much of the journal’s history and even contributed his own work to the publication.  

In addition, Sala Udin (who at the time used the name Samuel “Reggie” Howze) was one of the leaders of the Afro-American Institute, served as an editor for the journal, and also contributed his own work.  

Sala Udin still lives in Pittsburgh and continues his work as a community organizer.  You can read more about his life story and his historic contributions to the Pittsburgh community by using the following links:

Sala Udin, Community Organizer

A Life on the Hill

Mrs. Frank Leslie, born Miriam Folline in New Orleans in 1836, is noted for her success as a magazine editor, publisher, and business executive as well as a major supporter of women's suffrage.  After two failed marriages, she wed Frank Leslie owner of the Leslie publishing empire.  Upon his death in 1880, he left Miriam a bankrupt business and debts totaling more than $300,000.  Miriam promptly had her name legally changed to Frank Leslie and completely reorganized the business, becoming its president and turning the operation into a once-again profitable business.  In 1902, she sold all of her publishing interests and by her will she left her fortune to Carrie Chapman Catt in the hope of furthering the cause of women’s suffrage.  

Mrs. Frank Moore was the author of a number of works including the title depicted above as well as California: a pleasure trip from Gotham to the Golden Gate, Rents in our Robes, and A Social Mirage.

Are Men Gay Deceivers? And Other Sketches is a collection of short essays largely centered on gender relations and the role of women in society. Though obviously antiquated by today’s feminist standards, these essays depict Mrs. Frank Leslie as a complicated figure interested in advancing the position of women in society but obviously constrained by the social mores of her time. Below you can read the introductions of two pieces from the collection. 

References

National Women’s History Museum. “Miriam Folline Leslie (1836-1914).” 

This week, to continue our celebration of Women’s History Month, we would like to highlight a new acquisition here at Special Collections: On Our Backs. On Our Backs was founded in 1984 as the first magazine in the United States to feature lesbian erotica for a lesbian audience. 

The title On Our Backs is a reference to a long running feminist newspaper called Off Our Backs, which was considered by some feminists to espouse prudish views of sexuality and pornography.

Off Our Backs, however, was often critical of On Our Backs, publishing a scathing review in July of 1985 and publishing the work of many anti-pornography feminists.  

On Our Backs ran from 1984 to 2006. Throughout this time, its editors and creators worked hard to advocate for a new kind of sex-positive feminism that was instrumental in ushering in the third wave of feminist activism.  In addition, On Our Backs came to be an important publication within the queer press, which has often focused on the issues and concerns of gay men while under-serving its female-identified members.  Later issues eventually came to include a classifieds section, pictured below, which provided space for the ever-important personal ads.

Special Collections is lucky to have significant runs of both Off Our Backs and On Our Backs.  Visitors can see how feminist thinking and activism has shifted over time and how disagreements within the movement have historically and presently moved women forward.

For more information about our underground press holdings, visit:

http://pitt.libguides.com/undergroundpress

-Zach Grewe, student employee

References

 “Classifieds.”  On Our Backs, Vol 6, No 1.  September 1989.  Print.

Kulp, Denise. “Cruising On Our Backs.”  Off Our Backs, Vol XV, No 7.  July 1985.  Print.

Written and collected by Rev. Harvey B. Greene, Wild Flowers from Palestine is a beautiful cloth bound collection of seventeen dried flowers from the Holy Land.  The book begins with a brief introduction to the flora of Palestine and a bit about how the flowers were gathered.  On all subsequent pages, you will find a dried flower hand gathered by the reverend himself and accompanied by the plant’s link to scripture and literature.  In 1897, Good Housekeeping called the book “one of the most attractive novelties in book making which has lately made its appearance.”

Rev. Harvey B. Greene graduated from the Yale Divinity School in 1891, and was ordained in Fairhaven, Massachusetts the same year. He remained there until March, 1893, being next settled in Hartford, Vermont, where he remained about a year and a half. On account of poor health he was forced to give up ministerial work and took up a career as a florist. In a sort of culmination of passions, he made three visits to the Holy Land for the purpose of collecting flowers native to the country.  These were used in his Wild Flowers from Palestine and in another book of his entitled Pressed Flowers from the Holy Land.  

-Zach Grewe, student employee

References

Greene, Harvey B. (1897).  Wild Flowers from Palestine. Lowell, MA:  Dumas & Co.

The Ant’s Forefoot was a journal of poetry founded in 1967 by David Rosenberg and other American expatriates living in Toronto.  It primarily featured the works of a community of poets dedicated to a poetic experiment they called “collage”.  The goal was to bring together both the realities of their lived experiences and the aesthetic implications of their art while also incorporating a number of the prominent literary movements of the 60s: concrete poetry, found poetry, projectivist poetry, and recycling poetry.

In a preface to the first issue, Rosenberg begins a rather amusing, if not a bit bizarre, explanation for the creation of the journal. 

Throughout its seven year run, The Ant’s Forefoot published 12 issues filled to the brim with avant garde and experimental poetry.  For its time, the journal was one of the most significant sources of this style of work for North American audiences. 

In 1974, however, citing that the “uniqueness of time and place had passed on,” Rosenberg ceased publication of the journal.

Special Collections is happy to hold a nearly complete run of the journal, but we also have a robust archive of correspondence, manuscripts, printed materials, and associated works of art created and maintained for the production of journal.

This week, in celebration of National Poetry Month, we are taking a look at Big Sky, an independently published poetry journal from the early 70s. Reading through each issue offers a glimpse into the creativity and chaos of the West Coast during the protest era. 

Bill Berkson began publishing Big Sky in 1971 in the quirky town of Bolinas, CA. Bolinas was a small, secluded community known for attracting eccentric artists, musicians, hippies, and other “psychedelic refugees.”  Big Sky served as a creative outlet these residents.

The journal primarily focused on poetry, but also included contributions in a variety of other mediums and forms. These included comics, photography, artwork, prose, and experimental writing.  

As with many creative pursuits of the time, contributors to Big Sky often featured political themes in their work. The poem below offers a commentary on the 1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill that wreaked havoc on many coastal towns.   

References

Clark, Tom. “Slick.”  Big Sky.  No 1, 1971.

Greenwald, Ted. “Three Eyes.”  Big Sky. No 6, 1973.  

Irons, Greg.  “The Creature from the Bolinas Lagoon.”  Big Sky. No 1, 1971. 

Pittsburgh has witnessed a renewed interest in labor activism.  In fact, a group of organizers have begun the process of reestablishing a Pittsburgh Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.  This development is nothing new, however, and comes as a natural continuation of a long and proud history of labor activism in Pittsburgh.  Special Collections is lucky to house several periodicals that document this history. Of particular note is the Pittsburgh Chapter Newsletter of the New American Movement and Allegheny Socialist.

The New American Movement (NAM) was created in 1971 at a conference in Davenport, Iowa by a group of radical political activists.  The organization branded itself as a New Left socialist and feminist group.  It succeeded the then fractured group known as Students for a Democratic Society and would go on to merge with other activists to form the Democratic Socialists of America.  

In its early years, NAM published an organizational newsletter. This project was discontinued when the organization began its first official press organ:  a magazine known as Movin’ On.  The Pittsburgh chapter of NAM, however, continued the newsletter project by publishing its own localized version that featured a blend of organizational updates, local news reports, and consciousness raising material. 

Published only briefly from 1978-1982, the newsletter provides a snapshot of Pittsburgh labor organizing and demonstrates the strong links made between these labor organizers and other activists working on issues related to racism, sexism, and homophobia. 

In 1982, the New American Movement and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee merged to form the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).  As such, the NAM Pittsburgh Newsletter changed its name to the Allegheny Socialist and was then published by the Pittsburgh Chapter of DSA.  Allegheny Socialist was published from 1982 into the mid 90s.

More information about the activities and leadership of the Pittsburgh Chapter of DSA can be found by consulting the Joni Rabinowitz Papers and the Robert Opie Shepherd Papers at the Archives Service Center, or by attending one of the upcoming events of the new Pittsburgh Chapter of the DSA.

-Zach Grewe, student employee

References

New American Movement Pittsburgh Chapter.  New American Movement Pittsburgh Chapter Newsletter.  Vol 6-Vol 9.  1978-1981.

Written by Zachary Grewe, student employee

The tragedy that claimed 50 lives and injured dozens more this past week in Orlando weighs heavy in all of our hearts.  It has been a difficult time for our nation as we mourn the passing of so many lives taken far too soon and attempt to support the loved ones they left behind.  In the most horrific fashion, the Pulse shooting reminds us all of the grim reality that queer people in America, particularly queer people of color, have never been safe.  Whether it is in bars or clubs or state parks, queer social spaces have been under constant attack from homophobic and transphobic violence.  

The gay newspaper Planet Queer records some of these acts of violence as they transpired in southwestern Pennsylvania in the 90s.  On March 9th of 1997, a gunman fired into Casa Nova, a newly opened gay bar, and injured three patrons. This attack came on the heels of a similar incident at another bar named Jazi’s just a few months prior.

In May of that same year, Casa Nova was attacked by the KKK.  They held a protest and cross burning outside of the establishment and even made bomb threats.  Another local gay bar, Lucille’s, was also reported to have received violent threats from the Klan.  

The following month, the situation escalated as the KKK threatened the life of the owner of the Casa Nova and the frequency of tense encounters between patrons, protesters, and police increased.

Of course, these attacks on queer social spaces constitute only the tiniest fraction of the thousands of hate crimes perpetrated in public spaces every year.  Take, for example, the case of Paul Steckman of Smithton, PA, who was brutally murdered March 27, 1994, by Samuel Sethman.  Witnesses said that Sethman bragged and laughed about killing a “fag.”

Unfortunately, the systems set in place to protect citizens often fail the queer community.  In the case of Paul Steckman, court proceedings were sympathetic to his attacker and it was likely that Sethman would be sentenced only 10 years in prison for his heinous crime.  Similarly, few, if any, arrests were ever made in the attacks on Casa Nova.  Additionally, Planet Queer reported on an issue of police forces infiltrating a popular gay social area at Moraine State Park in order to lure men into sexual situations and then arrest them for disorderly conduct.

Obviously, the events that transpired in Orlando are a tragedy of a completely different scale than those described above.  However, as we process our grief, we must recognize that this pattern of violence is no coincidence.  Orlando was not a fluke.  It was the horrifying result of a national culture that has historically and continually normalized violence against queer people.  

It is important to note, though, that this violence is not uniformly distributed within the queer community.  For queer people of color, this kind of violence is a terrible daily reality.

Unfortunately, this violence will remain obscured from our national consciousness and absent from our policy agendas until we begin to make murder, rather than marriage, our number one queer issue.  To do so, we need to begin using the same activist tactics employed by our queer elders during the gay liberation movement.  The entire LGBTQIA+ community must work in coalition with advocates for gun control reform, racial justice, and improved mental health care.  We must honor the victims, support their loved ones, and care for all of those who are hurting right now, but we must also see to it that significant policy change happens so that we need not mourn yet another disaster.

References

Hileman, Billy.  “Casa Nova Attacked; Owner Threatened; KKK Planning July 12 Rally at Neighbor’s Farm.”  Planet Queer, vol. 4, no. 7.  July 1997. Print.

Hileman, Billy.  “McRae Breaks Truce; KKK Threatens Casa Nova, Holds Cross Burning.”  Planet Queer, vol. 4, no. 6.  June 1997. Print.

Hileman, Billy.  “Somerset County Gay Bar Under Siege.”  Planet Queer, vol. 4, no. 4.  November April. Print.

Hileman, Billy.  “State Police Harassing Gays at Moraine State Park.”  Planet Queer, vol. 1, no. 3.  June 1994. Print.