Culture and the Arts - Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

Diana Rivers: Author, Cultural Activist, and Grassroots Landyke

Diana Rivers in the home she built at OLHA

Divorced and alone in 1972, Diana Rivers paddled her way from New York to Arkansas with an unbridled fever that turned the local landscape upside down.

Posted on October 1, 2022 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian Land Groups, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers Tagged with Aguila, antiwar activism, Arco Iris, Arkansas, Blue Creek Tribe, Buffalo River, commune, Congress of Racial Equality CORE, Debra Gish, Diana Rivers, Earth school, Fayetteville Arkansas, feminism, land community, Landyke, Lesberadoes, lesbian, lesbian land community, Madison County, Nancy Vaughn, Newton County, non-violent civil disobedience, Ozark Land Holding Association OLHA, Ozark Women’s Land Trust OWLT, Rose Norman, Sassafras, separatism, Sun Hawk, Wild Magnolia

Saralyn Chesnut of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA)

Saralyn Chesnut is second from left in this photo from the 2013 Creating Change conference. Pat Hussain is at far right.

“ALFA’s lasting legacy is in women’s lives. The field of women’s studies was not just created by the feminist movement, but by the lesbian-feminist movement.”

Posted on May 19, 2022 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Social and Political Groups, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services Tagged with AIDS, Amanda Gable, Amy Darden (Estelle), Atalanta, butch and femme roles, Charis Books and More, Chris Carroll, communal households, Communist Party, dinner co-ops, drag queens, dyke march, EEOC, Eleanor Smith, Elizabeth Knowlton, Emory Office of LGBT Life, Feminary, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Gay and Lesbian Pride, gay liberation, gender, Georgians for the ERA, Hairy Hobbits, Hobbit Habit, Hummingbird Heights, Julia Penelope (Stanley), Lambda Legal, lesbian feminism, Little Five Points (L5P), Lorraine Fontana, mental illness, Moosewood Cookbook, National Gay Task Force, nonmonogamy, Our Bodies, Our Right to Love, Ourselves, patriarchy, pulp novels, racism, rap/Consciousness-raising groups, Reagan, Red Dyke Theatre, Rita Mae Brown, Rubyfruit Jungle, Sappho’s Quarry, Saralyn Chesnut, Sinister Wisdom, Southern Baptist, Stonewall riots, UGA, Vicki Gabriner, white southerner, woman-identified woman, Womansong Theatre, women in print movement, women’s movement, Women’s Policy Group, women’s softball, WRFG

Yer Girlfriend: Louisville’s Community Band

Yer Girlfriend was a Louisville-based, lesbian band active from 1989 to 1996, with reunion concerts as recently as 2015. They recorded three albums: “We Won’t Be Silent!” (1989), “L-word Spoken Here” (1992), and “Not Afraid to Love” (1995), all published by Esther Records. In 2015, Rose Norman interviewed the two founders of the band, Carol Kraemer and Laura Shine. Four songs by Carol Kraemer are posted online at Sinister Wisdom (sinisterwisdom.org/YerGirlfriend), and Sinister Wisdom uses one of them, “The L-Word,” to begin and end Zoom readings from each new issue of this quarterly journal of lesbian arts and literature.

Posted on May 16, 2022 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises, Social and Political Groups Tagged with 2 Nice Girls, A Family of Friends (Tsunami Records), AIDS Walk, Angie Mattingly, Anima Rising, Ann Reed, Athena Productions, Bill Barnwell Trio, Brenda Dejong, Camille Rocha, Carla Wallace, Carol Kraemer, Carriage House, Cathy Lester, Cindy Campbell, CLD Club, Clothesline Project, Community Health Trust, Connie Poole, Connie’s Cabin, Cris Williamson, Daina Selter, Dare to Care, Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund, Debra Clem, Deidre McCalla, Dianne Davidson, Ellen James Society, Ellen Rosner, Esther Records, Fairness Campaign (Kentucky), Ferron, First Unitarian Church, Fonda Feingold, Full Moon Productions, Gantt Kushner, Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO), Gay Games Team Louisville, Girls in the Nose, GLUE, Gulf Coast Women’s Festival, Henley Barnette, Heritage Pridefest (NY), Holly Near, Homefront (public radio show), Hopscotch House, Hot Wire (magazine), International Women’s Day, James T. Sears, Jan Marra, Jan Riley Trio, Janet Frank, JD Doyle, Jean Russell, Joy Knopfmeier, Kathie D. Williams, Kathy Weisbach, Katy Wildsister, Ken Herndon Benefit, Kentucky Foundation for Women, Kittyhawk, L-Word Spoken Here (Esther Records), Ladyslipper Music, Laura Shine, Lawson Hunley, Lisa Cates, Liz Welsh, Londa Crenshaw, Louisville Courier Journal, Louisville KY, Louisville Music News, Louisville Sports Alliance, Lucie Blue Tremblay, Lyn Bick, Mammoth Women’s Music Festival, March for Justice (Louisville KY), Margie Adam, Marilyn Mote-Yale, Martha Barnette (Patty O. Veranda), Mary Blankemeier, Maxine Feldman, Meg Christian, Melissa Etheridge, Melody Hill (Louisville KY), Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, Minerva, Mountain Moving Coffeehouse, music festivals, musicians, Nat Foster Trio, National Women’s Music Festival, Not Afraid to Love (Esther Records), Olivia Records, Patti Hagewood, Peace and Harmony, performances, performers, Phyllis Free, Queer Music Heritage, Reel World String Band, Rhythmfest, Rita Godfrey, River City Wimmin, Robin Mock, Sallie Bingham, Sensible Pumps, Sisterfire, Southern Indiana Women’s Music Festival, Southern Women’s Music & Comedy Festival (SWMCF), Studio 2002, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Take Back the Night, Tendre, Teresa Trull, Teri Rini & Friends, The Connection, The New Era, the Planet Bar, the Rudyard Kipling, Truly Dangerous Swamp Band, Uncle Pleasant’s, Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington, Vicki Jones, We Won’t Be Silent (Esther Records), WFPK 91.9 FM (Louisville Public Radio), WFPL 89.3 FM (Louisville Public Radio), Woman Sounds (WEKU 88.9 FM), Womanwaves (WFPL 89.3 FM), Women in Paradise, women’s music, women’s music festivals, Women’s Week, Yer Girlfriend

Red Dyke Theatre with Mickey Alberts and Frances Pici

The Android Sisters, left to right: Murry Stevens, Frances Pici, and Mickey Alberts. Courtesy of Frances Pici.

Frances Pici, Mickey Alberts and three others started Red Dyke Theatre in Atlanta in 1974 with a New Year’s Eve show at their home, Tacky Towers.

Posted on April 8, 2022 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Social and Political Groups Tagged with ALFA, ALFA Omegas, Amy Darden, Amy Estelle, Atlanta GA, Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance, Bonnie Netherton, Buffalo Women's Studies College, C.C. (aka Carol Gallant), C.K, Charlotte Bunch, coming out, communal households, DAR II, Debra Gray, Dino Martin, Donna Price, Dyke, Dykes for the Second American Revolution, Fanny Fernow, feminist process, Frances Pici, Gail Reeder, Garbo’s, Harriett Green, Jaen Black, Jeanne Aland, lesbian feminist theatre, Lily Tomlin, Maoism, Marxism, Mickey Alberts, Moral Hazard, Murry (Mary) Stevens, music, Nancy Oswald, performance, Rebecca Ranson, Red Dyke Theatre, SAME – Southeastern Arts Media and Education, Sarah Holmes, Stars and Dykes Forever Theater, Sue Berry, Sweet Gum Head, Tacky Towers, The Great Southeastern Lesbian Conference, The Tower, theatre, University of Buffalo Women’s Studies College, Wilson Huff, Winona Holloway, women's radio shows, women’s movement

Category: Culture and the Arts

Diana Rivers: Author, Cultural Activist, and Grassroots Landyke

Saralyn Chesnut of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA)

Yer Girlfriend: Louisville’s Community Band

Red Dyke Theatre with Mickey Alberts and Frances Pici