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 at Historic Northampton

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.

Registration required. Limited to 60.

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.

Directions to Historic Northampton