Lesbians of Color Oral History Panel: Graham Hall, Smith College
Due to popular demand, this event has been moved to:
Graham Hall Auditorium
Hillyer Hall Art Building, Smith College,
20 Elm Street, Northampton, MA
Graham Hall is near the Smith College Museum of Art
below Hillyer Art Library.
Graham Hall does not accept advance registrations.
Seating is first come, first seated.
Seating Capacity: 100
Historic Northampton's
Lesbians of Color Oral History Project
Film Screening & Panel Discussion
Moderated by oral historian Erika Slocumb
with participants from the project
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
at 6 pm
Join Erika Slocumb as she talks with Pippa Flemming and Marcel Walters about their experiences as women of color in Northampton's queer community and in the organization De Colores.
Historic Northampton will screen De Colores: Defining Kinship, Finding Peace, a short documentary film telling the story of the community created by Black lesbians who came to Northampton, Massachusetts, in the 1970s and 1980s to live, work, and love. After the screening and panel discussion, there will be an open Q&A with the community.
Bookends Florence will be in attendance selling books on local lesbian history.
Free and open to the public.
First come, first seated.
Seating capacity is 100 people.
Erika Slocumb is the director of interpretation and visitor experience at the Stowe Center for Literary Activism. She is working together with her team to reinterpret the Stowe House Tour to include stories of the constellation of Black voices who influenced and inspired Stowe, as evidenced by "The Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin." A scholar of Black history, Slocumb has worked on uncovering the history of Black people in Holyoke, Massachusetts, with the Wistariahurst Museum and most recently working at Historic New England on "Recovering New England’s Voices." Continue reading
Collecting Oral Histories of Lesbian Women of Color
who lived in Northampton in the 1970s and 1980s
In 2022-23, Erika Slocumb directed Historic Northampton's project to collect oral histories of lesbian women of color in Northampton. Six oral histories are now part of Historic Northampton's collection.
The project was made possible by a grant from
Mass Humanities
which provided funding through the
Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC).
Photo Credits:
Marchers hold the De Colores Banner. Courtesy of Marcel Walters, circa 1994.
Design from a t-shirt for De Colores created by a De Colores member. Collection of Historic Northampton. Given in memory of Olga Candelario.
