Queer Newark Oral History Project

Welcome! Thank you for visiting the website of the Queer Newark Oral History Project. We are working to tell our community's stories in the words of its trailblazers and legends, by collecting audio-recorded oral history interviews. We hope you enjoy your visit - and consider sharing your own story with one of our trained project staff.

As a community-based and community-directed initiative supported by Rutgers University-Newark, QNOHP is dedicated to preserving the history of LGBTQ people and communities in Newark, New Jersey.

This website features interviews that we've already collected, a look at some of the primary-source documents we've archived, as well as a repository of published work on LGBTQ Newark by academic researchers and community members.

News and Media Mentions

• Queer Newark: Stories of Resistance, Love, and Community, ed. Whitney Strub wins New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance (NJSAA) Award for Edited Works (2024)
• Queer Newark reviewed by John D’Emilio, professor emeritus at University of Illinois–Chicago. "The Liberation Spirit Comes to Newark," The Gay & Lesbian Review, July/August 2024.
• "History of 'Queer Newark' Discussed," Essex News Daily, March 2, 2024
• "‘Queer Newark’ book chronicles LGBTQ history 20 years after teen’s killing," NJ.com, February 29, 2024
• "Queer Newark Oral History Project Publishes Milestone Book Drawn From Group’s Archive," Rutgers News, February 21, 2024
• "Review: Queer Newark, An Eclectic Tapestry of Scholarship and Reflection," The Newarker, February 1, 2024
• Queer Newark: Stories of Resistance, Love, and Community, ed. Whitney Strub featured in The Lambda Literary Review: "February's Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature, February 13, 2024
• "LGBTQ+ students should see themselves represented in history, too," NJ.com, September 01, 2022
• “Queer Like Us: A Conversation with the Queer Newark Oral History Project,” Audible.com, June 2020
• "Audible.com Hosts Queer Newark History Exhibit," June 26, 2019
• "The Queer Newark Oral History Project, August 15, 2018 (GET OUT!)
• "The Brick City’s Queer Oral History Project shines light on black LGBT past," Out in Jersey, April 22, 2017.
• "Recording Newark's LGBTQ Community's Past and Present," (One on One with Steve Adubato), December 5, 2016
• "How N.J.'s LGBT-friendly clubs have long strived for safety," NJ.com, June 20, 2016
• “Dispatch from Fireball in Newark: The Ballroom Scene and Legendary Houses,” Notches: (re)marks on the history of sexuality, May 12, 2016
• Queer Newark Oral History Project Wins Clement A. Price Human Dignity Award, April 13, 2016
• "The History of LGBTQ Club Spaces," December 5, 2014 (WBGO)
• "Rutgers Newark to Honor Essex County's Role in LGBT Solidarity With Events," October 6, 2014 (PATCH.COM)
• "Sanctuary" series to feature month-long event schedule celebrating the LGBT Newark club, ballroom, and party scenes, September 19, 2014 (BRICK CITY LIVE)
• "Gays in Newark: Our Stories, Our Lives," NJ.com, December 11, 2011