Gay Men
Bernard McAllister
Bernard "Bernie Jourdan Ebony" McAllister was born and raised in the city of Newark. He is the second of two children born to a single mother. He was raised by an extended family of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and many others who helped mold him into the man he would later become. He came out to his family at the age of fourteen. He was embraced by his family yet prepared by them for what the world had in store for an openly gay black man. Having come from a background where no one was ever turned away for being different, he easily gravitated towards the ballroom scene which welcomed young...Michael Bronski
Michael Bronski is an independent scholar, journalist, and writer who has been involved in social justice movements since the 1960s. He has been active in gay liberation as a political organizer, writer, editor, publisher and theorist since 1969. He is the author of numerous books.
His book, A Queer History of the United States, won the 2011 Lambda Literary Award for Best Non-Fiction, as well as the 2011 American Library Association Stonewall Israel Fishman Award for Best Non-Fiction. "You Can Tell Just By Looking: And 20 Other Myths about LGBT Life and People" (coauthored...
Donald Ransom
Since arriving in Newark in the early 1980s, Rev. Don Ransom has worked in the fields of substance abuse and recovery, as well as HIV prevention and education. A central figure in Newark AIDS activism, he was involved with James Credle and others in the pioneering Fire Ball programs of the early 1990s, a member of the city’s first HIV planning council, and remains active with NJCRI and other organizations. As well, he serves as senior reverend at the Unity Fellowship Church NewArk.In his oral history interviews, Rev. Ransom talks about queer Newark nightlife, AIDS activism, his...
John Calendo
John Calendo (b. 1948) has led a rich, full life, in which Newark entered the picture late and in somewhat marginal fashion. Thus this oral history departs a bit from tradition and centers his experiences at Newark’s Little Theatre and Cameo adult theaters rather than his full life story per se, though it touches on many aspects of his larger trajectory.John’s biography captures some of the other notable elements:
I graduated NYU in the spring of 1970. I joined Andy Warhol’s Interview a year after college. I was brought out to Hollywood to work on a script, stayed there...
Taj Shareef
Taj Shareef is an LA/NJ based writer/VO artist. I have always loved great stories, as I found myself glued to the TV for countless hours watching everything from All in the Family to X-Men. As I dove further into fiction I found the literary works of Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury, Toni Morrison, and Stephen King pivotal to my lens. I obtained a B.A. in Communications and Radio Production from Delaware State University.His eclectic interests and desire for inclusive storytelling have led to opportunities to co-write for queer Black LGBTQ scripted series Love @ First Night with ...
Ulysses Dietz
Ulysses Grant Dietz served as curator of Decorative Arts at The Newark Museum from 1980 until 2017, and was appointed Chief Curator in 2012. As the curator of 114 exhibitions covering all aspects of the decorative arts from colonial to contemporary, he studied and collected furniture, silver, base metals, glass, ceramics, textiles, and jewelry. He is particularly proud of his work on the Museum’s National Historic Landmark Ballantine House, built in1885. The Ballantine House was reinterpreted between 1992 and 1994 with a groundbreaking installation called House & Home.Mr. ...
Darryl Rochester
After graduating from Weequahic High School in 1971, Darryl Wayne Rochester (March 27, 1953-December 8, 2020) studied dance under the tutelage of Kay Thompson Payne, co-owner of the then well-known Thompson Dance Studio of Newark. He became one of her star pupils. One evening Kay invited Darryl to accompany her to her dance class at the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York. The experience was very intimidating and he left there feeling somewhat inadequate and less confident in his ability as a dancer. Darryl had an urgent feeling to obtain additional training in dance from a highly...
Kareem Willis
Kareem Willis is a scholar, activist and proud member of the LGBTQ Community. As a Ph.D student currently enrolled in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University- Newark, Kareem is learning how to harness his passion for social advocacy,change and empowerment for the betterment of the lives of other persons. As a nonprofit enthusiast, hisfocus is on researching methods that nonprofit organizations and others charged with fulfilling the public good can deploy to better maximize their impact. This research initiative is important as nonprofits will need to craft more...William Courson
Bill Courson was born and raised at the Jersey shore (his hometown is Avon by the Sea) and relocated to and has lived in Montclair, NJ since from 1978.A student at Brookdale and Monmouth Colleges in the the early 1970’s, he feels fortunate to have lived through and participated in a period of political activism and social and cultural ferment that witnessed the birth of the contemporary movement for LGBT equality. Along with a handful of other lesbians and gay male students, he co-founded the Gay Student Union, the first LGBTQ group at both colleges.
In 1986 he...