People, Places, Things: 50 Years of RI LGBTQIA History Panel Discussion

Join the Rhode Island Historical Society on Wednesday, June 10th, at 6pm, for People, Places, Things: 50 Years of RI LGBTQIA History, a panel discussion commemorating 50 years of Rhode Island’s Pride Parade and some of the projects, places, and people that helped build the queer community in Rhode Island in the years leading up to and following 1976.

The panel, moderated by Jason Tranchida & Matthew Lawerence, will feature three 10-minute talks from Elmo Terry-Morgan on “The Black Lavender Experience (1998-present)”, Janaya Kizzie on “Kandy’s of Course Beauty Salon (1968-2017)”, and Angela DiVeglia on “Kings and Queens Bar in Woonsocket (1977-2002)” and the Kim Deacon Collection of photographs at the Providence Public Library.

The program will also feature a brief overview of the LGBTQ+ timeline made by Lawrence, as well as a screening of archival footage from the first Rhode Island Pride Parade in 1976.

Guests may arrive before the program for a 5:30pm reception.

Jason Tranchida (he/him) & Matthew Lawerence (he/they) are a collaborative duo living in Providence, Rhode Island. Matthew and Jason have worked on multiple art and curatorial projects, including Headmaster, a project-based art magazine and the multi-channel video installation Scandalous Conduct: A Fairy Extravaganza, a musical-documentary about the Newport Navy Scandal of 1919..

Separately, Lawrence is an archivist, writer, and editor. In 2022, he received his Master of Information Studies from McGill University, and has since worked on archival projects with Providence Public Library, the Massachusetts State Historical Records Board, and Providence College Galleries, among others. He was a 2021 finalist for the Rabkin Prize for Visual Art Journalism and a 2015 recipient of the Public Humanities Scholar Award from Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.

Tranchida has a creative practice that is a multi-disciplinary intersection of art, design, and curatorial projects. Born in Detroit and living in Providence, his project-based art practice includes objects, installations, video, and digital explorations. As creative director of Headmaster magazine, Tranchida has received two Print Merit Awards from the Society of Publication Designers. His creative agency LLAMAproduct specializes in graphic and experience design, creative direction, and event production. His work draws heavily on his foundation in architecture and stage design.

Elmo Terry-Morgan (he/him) is Associate Professor Emeritus in Africana Studies and the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, and Artistic Director Emeritus of Rites and Reason Theatre at Brown University. Professor Elmo Terry-Morgan’s areas of specialization are African-American Theatre, African-American Folk Traditions and Cultural Expressions, Black LGBTQ+ Theatre, and Research-to-Performance Method [RPM] Playwriting.

ETM and his students developed their sui generes course in 1998, Black Lavender: The study of plays with Black LGBTQ+ content and The Black Lavender Experience [BLX] 2009, a presentation of LGBTQ+ plays, films, interviews and panels. Among the artists who have contributed to the course and the BLX are Christina Anderson, Djola Banner, Sharon Bridgforth, StaciAnn Chin, Brian Freeman, Shirlene Holmes, Dréa St. Clair, Chisa Hutchinson, E. Patrick Johnson, Daniel Alexander Jones, Ione Lloyd, Renita Martin, Lenelle Moises, Yoruba Richen, and Brown University and Tougaloo College students.

Janaya Kizzie (they/she) is an author, archivist, and historian living in the Providence area. Kizzie processed the AS220 Collection, documenting the history of arts and place-making, at the Providence Public Library in 2016, and was named the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities Rhode Island Public Humanities Scholar in 2020. They have been a processing archivist at Brown University since 2022. In 2024 Kizzie was commissioned to create three biographies on LGBTQ+ people in Rhode Island for Rhode Tour, an online app documenting the history and culture of the state.
Angela DiVeglia (she/her) is an artist, urban gardener, writer, curator, and librarian. Her work centers around visual and immersive research, social movement documentation, public history, post-industrial landscapes, radical cartography, and the transformative power of community archives. She helped create the Rhode Island LGBTQ+ Community Archive at Providence Public Library and serves on the Board of Dirt Palace Public Projects, a feminist arts organization that offers numerous residency and exhibition programs in Providence.

Registration is required. Pay as you wish registration is available here.