WASHINGTON — Across from Howard University's Campus, a small group of D.C. residents had no idea they were making history on May 25, 1991.|
D.C. native and activist Rayceen Pendarvis was approached by three LGBTQ+ activists in the early '90s. Welmore Cook, Ernest Hopkins and Theodore Kirkland had an idea. They wanted to host “Black Pride” in the Shaw neighborhood at Banneker Field.
"No one knew exactly what Black Pride was going to be like. They were like, 'What? What is Black Pride? What is that? What are y'all talking about?,'” Pendarvis recalled.
To understand, you have to go to the ClubHouse. In 1975, Black LGBTQ+ Washingtonians founded this member-only nightclub, tucked away in the Petworth neighborhood in Northwest D.C.
The ClubHouse was a nationally known social and safe space for everyone, especially those rejected from other establishments for being Black and queer. Its signature event was an LGBTQ celebration during Memorial Day weekend.
By the 1980s and the early years of the AIDS epidemic, the ClubHouse also provided critical space for HIV and AIDS-related work.
"When the epidemic hit, it took a moment to trickle down to us, to the Black community. Many people thought it was a white male gay disease,” Pendarvis said
According to the Rainbow History Project, 40% of the ClubHouse's members were impacted.
"When it hit us, we weren't ready. So, when it hit us, it hit us quickly and then we had to move and we had to pivot,” Pendarvis said.
With dwindling membership, the ClubHouse closed in 1990, but community activists knew there was still a lot of work to do, and they needed a safe space by 1991.
"We were forging a path for all of us to be free,” Pendarvis said.
They began planning and spreading the word. "Drag shows, raising money, bake sales, car washes. We did whatever we could to raise the funds that we needed to put this event together,” Pendarvis said.
They pulled it off and hosted one of the earliest Black gay pride events in the United States. It was held on Memorial Day weekend, when the ClubHouse typically held its signature event.
In a souvenir program, founders said the purpose was to "have a good time", "network", "exchange ideas" and most importantly, “raise money for people of color with AIDS."
Pendarvis stood on stage, in awe, as more than 800 people arrived.
"All shades of Blackness. All shades of Queerness. Just seeing it standing on the field in tears because it was so beautiful and it was such a proud moment and I knew at that moment, what we were doing was not in vain," Pendarvis recalled. “After that first year, it was on and popping. There was no stopping us.”
The work continues today, with a new generation organizing this year's DC Black Pride.
Along with the parties, this year’s events include workshops for those attending, support and resources from health to housing, just like the first Black Pride.
Black Pride volunteers Genise Chambers and Strawberry Cox have been helping organize this event for more than a decade. They say it feels like home because their journeys haven't been smooth.
"I didn't have real support from my family back then and neither did the neighborhood kids. So, you know, people are cruel. After a failed suicide attempt, I decided to just learn how to love myself and accept me for all that I am,” Cox said.
"It was a rocky road. My father didn't see this for me, but I was not going to allow his vision of me to become the vision that I have for myself. I'm not going to allow anybody to not let me be myself. If you don't like who I am or what I'm doing, you have the door. That's what I told him,” Chambers said.
Chambers says thankfully, she had support from her grandmother, who took Chambers to her first Black Pride event.
“I feel like my grandmother opened the door for me to allow myself to be myself and know I'm not alone despite how it may feel sometimes."
Both Chambers and Cox said they volunteer to curate an experience for others to feel that same love.
"The history is important. The community is important. The love is important. The education is highly important,” Cox said. "It brings joy to my heart. I'm not going to cry. It's like you see people let go and feel relaxed. They don't get to do that in their everyday space,” Chambers added.
Pendarvis, known as the Empress of Pride, still attends DC Black Pride events.
"Only being a person of color that you understand that kinship. The way we say hello. How you doing? What's the tea?,” she said with a laugh. "It feels like family."
Just like the first event more than three decades ago, Pendarvis is still beaming with pride.
"I'm grateful. I'm grateful that the bricks and the bottles and the name-calling and the heartbreaks were all worth it,” Pendarvis said.
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