https://archives.rainbowhistory.org/files/original/4fd282eb7c09f517b491abe1ad30a503.pdf b9a1f24f966182d60a0c934c3a8bb007 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rainbow History Project Oral History Collection Description An account of the resource Eye-witness accounts of what we’ve seen and experienced provide a valuable resource to researchers and future generations to understand our past and how we arrived where we are today. Each interview in this collection has a narrator telling the story and a documenter guiding the process. Collected since the founding of the RHP, this collection is growing and is open to researchers. All interviews have been digitized and are described in the catalog; only some of them have transcripts available. None of the interviews stream online. To obtain access to an interview, you must request by contacting us directly, providing a brief description of your project and your research interests. Our email address is: info AT rainbowhistory DOT org One of our team will share the file from our Google Drive, and you can listen from home. Please be sure to have "Music Player for Google Drive" enabled on your machine to play the recording. www.driveplayer.com Table Of Contents A list of subunits of the resource. To see all interviews in the collection, click on "Items in the Rainbow History Project Oral History Collection" link below. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Rainbow History Project Various narrators per oral history Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound. No, not yet transcribed. Summary, courtesy Anne Patricia Lafferty, 2017. Original Format If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Yes, recording available Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral history interview with Sheila Alexander-Reid Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 5/2/2001 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource No restrictions on access; no restrictions on use. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant African American lesbian experience, Roadwork, social events, 80s-90s Abstract A summary of the resource. This is an interview focuses largely on Ms. Alexander-Reid’s work in putting on parties for members of the lesbian and gay community, especially people of color. A precursor to this work was her experience throwing parties with her brother while her parents were out of town, during her teenage years. Later, after she came out, she attended and held house parties within the community. She also attended dances at black gay and lesbian clubs Eventually, Ms. Alexander-Reid, along with Lisa Thornhill and Chris Viera, formed VTR Productions, a business which organized parties. They started out specifically holding women’s parties, but eventually also put on parties for mixed groups. Their first co-ed party, around 1989-90, was a fundraiser for an owner of a bar (Encore) who, as result of a car accident, needed to have her house made handicapped-accessible. They also put on parties at Tracks, a predominantly male black gay and lesbian bar. Because Ms. Alexander-Reid has a marketing background, she took on all that part of the business’s work and burned out. After a break of a year, she started her own organization, Women in the Life, in 1993. She is, by preference, the sole head of the organization, but has a few employees. Women in the Life came to the attention of the community when it threw a big, unofficial party for the March on Washington in April 1993 which attracted about 1300 women. Later, she started a newsletter, also called Women in the Life, which eventually became a magazine. Ms. Alexander-Reid has national ambitions for the publication and wants to add editorial staff. She is trying to transition the business from profit-making to non-profit status, because it has been doing a lot of charity work. Since she finds, as she grows older, that she is less interested in partying, she also wants the organization to become less event-oriented and more focused on other approaches, such as the magazine, being a health resource, doing advocacy, etc. The interview also touches on a number of topics only indirectly related to VTR Productions or Women in the Life. One of those topics is local bars, including Hill Haven, The Phase, the Encore, Tracks, the Mill, the Delta, the Hung Jury, the Blue Penguin, and Chaos. Part of the discussion focuses on which bars had Ladies’ Nights or Drag King Nights, as well as the fighting and police involvement (associated with a decline in patron age) at some venues which eventually led to the end of some of the events. The interviewee also expresses her desire to do a mixed-race women’s Pride, as she thinks that Pride events are segregated racially. Ms. Alexander-Reid believes that her experience growing up of first attending a majority-white, but integrated, school, and then belonging to the only African-American family in her neighborhood and attending other, almost entirely white, schools left her with a sensitivity to divisions between different groups of people and an interest in coalition building. Ms. Alexander-Reid also comments on other groups in the community, including DC Black Gay Pride, whose board she was once on; BLSG, for which she has done fundraising and with which she has co-sponsored events; the Coalition; and the Maunter Project. She discusses being part of an ongoing tradition of black women doing work and putting out publications in the community. Finally, the interview includes some information about Alexander-Reid’s personal background. For instance, there is brief mention of her childhood, her college career, her coming out in both black and white lesbian communities, her Catholic background, and her current participation in non-homophobic churches. She discusses her marriage to Lois Alexander at somewhat greater length. Description An account of the resource <strong>Do you want to access this audio?<br /></strong>Fill out this <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScm76nkatHa6G4zBJS84vVWUMEtrSZha5NUE2cZeDJ7yOSMBQ/viewform">form</a> or email oralhistories@rainbowhistory.org Relation A related resource In 2007 Sheila Alexander-Reid was named a Community Pioneer. <a href="https://archives.rainbowhistory.org/exhibits/show/pioneers/alexander-reid" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read her online biography</a>. 1980s 1990s Advocacy groups Bachelor's Mill Bars and clubs Black Community Pioneers Intersectionality Lesbian bars and clubs Lesbians Nightlife Phase One Pride Religion Religious facilities Sheila Alexander-Reid Social justice The Hung Jury Tracks