Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
'The Gay Harlem Renaissance' exhibit spotlights queer Black artists who shaped history
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Sep 28, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Photograph of Gladys Bentley courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Rent party ticket courtesy of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, from the Mabel Hampton Collection. Harlem Diner by Jacob Lawrence courtesy of the New-York Historical Society, promised gift of Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld. © 2025 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Sep 28, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A new art exhibition opening this fall in New York City invites visitors to explore a lesser-known but vital chapter of the Harlem Renaissance: the queer artists, writers and performers who helped define it.
"The Gay Harlem Renaissance" will be on view at the New York Historical from Oct. 10 to March 8, 2026. It lands at a time when some exhibits centered on Black and LGBTQ+ stories are being canceled, often amid political backlash to diversity and inclusion efforts.
Recent cancellations include shows at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C., which focused on Black and queer artists, and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, which featured transgender art. An LGBTQ+ film festival in Phoenix was also scrapped, prompting the festival’s New York City edition to offer free virtual access to Arizona residents.
The New York Historical's show will highlight everyday Black queer life in the early-20th century, when Harlem was both the capital of Black culture and one of the most welcoming neighborhoods in the city for LGBTQ+ people.
“I think it’s a tribute to the New York Historical that they are sponsoring this exhibit, and I am really grateful for their support for it. It’s an important part of New York City history,” said George Chauncey, the show's chief historian and a professor at Columbia University, who authored "Gay New York."
“There are two main things we want to communicate with this exhibit," he added. "One is just how unexpectedly visible and accepted and integrated into daily life LGBTQ people were in Harlem in the 1920s and ’30s — and also how central a role they played in the cultural outpouring that we now know as the Harlem Renaissance."
The show will feature more than 200 works across mediums, including photographs, sculptures and music, from some of Harlem’s most celebrated voices, like Langston Hughes, Bessie Smith and Gladys Bentley.
“I hope that people who come to the exhibit will come away with a sense that Harlem was indeed the most gay-friendly neighborhood in New York in the early 20th century, surpassing Greenwich Village,” Chauncey said.
Tagged
LGBTQ
art
history
manhattan
museums
new york city
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .