On Monday, exactly 63 years after the event it commemorates, a historic landmark went up at the corner of St. Paul and Plankinton avenues to recognize the Black Nite Brawl. In doing so, Wisconsin officially dedicated the first LGBTQ historic landmark in the state’s history.
The location of the landmark coincides with that of the Black Nite Tavern, where in 1961 the LGBTQ community — led by Josie Carter, a Black transgender woman — fought back against four servicemen who tried to enter the establishment on a dare. An initial confrontation with the bouncer escalated when the men returned with a larger group to, as the landmark states, “clean up” the bar.
Carter told Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project board chair Michail Takach that Black Nite owner Wally Whetham encouraged the patrons to leave for their own safety. “But we did not run from a fight,” Carter continued. “We did not run from nothing.”
A group of more than 70 individuals defended one of the few places in Milwaukee that welcomed all sexual and gender expressions — a truly safe space. Carter relayed the events of that night in a pair of interviews she gave in 2011, and we were fortunate to be able to share them in the first episode of our Be Seen podcast with the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project. That’s one way the historic moment lives on. The landmark dedicated Monday is another.
"While the History Project did the work to prove the Black Nite happened, and achieved both civic commemoration and historic designation, the victory belongs to our Black and brown elders," Takach said in a release. "The people who fought at the Black Nite never expected to be heroes. They never expected to be remembered by history. We are proud to shine a bright light on their stories."
