Google Gives $1 Million For Stonewall Inn History Project

Elected officials announced that the oral history of the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, which sparked the LGBT civil rights movement, will be preserved—with as many stories recorded as possible—now that Google has committed to a $1 million grant to the LGBT Community Center of New York City.

William Floyd, Google's head of external affairs for New York and California, explained on Google's blog:

Google was founded on the idea that bringing more information to more people improves lives on a vast scale. The preservation of history is an essential way to make sure information lives on and reaches everyone. The Stonewall Riots were important to the ongoing road to civil rights for LGBT communities around the world — and their message is as resonant and necessary today as it was back then. To help preserve and amplify the story of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, Google.org is giving a $1 million grant to the LGBT Community Center of New York City.

The Center will use this grant to continue its work with the National Park Service, extending the reach of Stonewall National Monument beyond its physical location. Ahead of 2019, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the uprising, the Center will record the stories of those who raised their voices at Stonewall and the many others who were inspired by their brave defiance. These are the stories of transgender women of color who fought back; of queer youth, many of whom were homeless, who bravely refused to be silenced; of the poorest of the LGBTQ community. Those stories will be built into a digital memorial experience available to anyone who visits the park—both in person and online. The funding will also support the building of a curriculum on LGBTQ civil rights to be used in classrooms nationwide.

The project's target completion is June 28th, 2019—the 50th anniversary of the uprising. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt said at Sunday's announcement of the grant, "What sticks in my mind most is all the people who aren’t here to talk about it. Most of the people — I knew because I was one of the street kids — didn’t live to be 22 years old. I’m lucky to be alive."

In an interview with the NY Times, Senator Chuck Schumer said, "The purpose is to spread the word about the Stonewall uprising and the progress we have made as well as the distance we have to go. And it sends a great message to Washington, especially in these times: We celebrate our diversity and cherish it, we don’t shrink from it and we don’t fear it."

PBS's American Experience produced a documentary about the riots. You can stream it here, and this is an excerpt of how the action unfolded:

Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter, The Village Voice: Saturday night there it was. The Stonewall had reopened. The mob was saying, you know, "Screw you, cops, you think you can come in a bust us up? We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." And gay people were standing around outside and the mood on the street was, "They think that they could disperse us last night and keep us from doing what we want to do, being on the street saying I'm gay and I'm proud? Just let's see if they can."

Martin Boyce: People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. My father said, "About time you fags rioted."

Jerry Hoose: Gay people who had good jobs, who had everything in life to lose, were starting to join in. Even non-gay people.

Dick Leitsch: There were Black Panthers and there were anti-war people.

Martin Boyce: There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" and someone would say, "Well, they're still fighting the police, let's go," and they went in.

Fred Sargeant: The tactical patrol force on the second night came in even larger numbers, and were much more brutal. There were occasions where you did see people get night-sticked, or disappear into a group of police and, you know, everybody knew that was not going to have a good end.

John O'Brien: They went for the head wounds, it wasn't just the back wounds and the leg wounds.

Dick Leitsch: And that's when you started seeing like, bodies laying on the sidewalk, people bleeding from the head.

Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter, The Village Voice: They started busting cans of tear gas. And there was tear gas on Saturday night, right in front of the Stonewall.

Danny Garvin: There was more anger and more fight the second night. There was no going back now, there was no going back, there was no, we had discovered a power that we weren't even aware that we had.

The Stonewall Inn was landmarked in 2015 and, in 2016, President Obama named the park across the street a national monument.

Last year, then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said the NYPD didn't need to apologize for its actions in 1969: "There is no denying that out of that terrible experience came so much good. It was the tipping point, if you will. So I think we should all celebrate that out of that terrible experience, a lot of good came... The apology is all that's occurred since then."