March is Women’s History Month, and Brooklyn is filled with a surprisingly rich set of resources to explore.
The Museum of Women’s Resistance: An International Site of Conscience “examines the diversity, dynamism, and influence of women of African descent and women of color from the Global South, their resistance movements, their cultures over time in the realms of family, work, community, nations and the natural environment.”
Definitely a place worth checking out, their current exhibit is Beyond the Border Wall: The Spatial, Racial, and Sexual Mappings of Seen and Unseen Women Migrants. Located in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, the museum offers internships and other opportunities year-round.
If you walk across Prospect Park, you may stumble across The Lesbian Herstory Archives, located on 14th Street in Park Slope. LHA is the first and most substantive record of lesbian history in the world. Collections include original manuscripts by Audre Lorde, Pat Parker, Adrienne Rich; as well as documentation of Salsa Soul Sisters (the first black lesbian organization in the United States), the Lesbian Avengers, and other activist groups. As well as being an internationally-recognized source of scholarship, LHA is an active community hub, with recurring monthly events like Lez Create and Little Rainbows.
The Trans Oral History Project, coordinated in partnership with the New York Public Library, records the histories and life stories of transgender people, who have typically been left out of the historical record. You can listen to the audio recordings online, or read interview transcripts here.
