New Oral History: Kevin McGruder and Greenwich Village’s Black LGBTQ+ Literary Circles

We’re pleased to share our 71st oral history with Prof. Kevin McGruder. A native of Toledo, Ohio, McGruder joined Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church in 1987, and was among the founders of the Abyssinian Development Corporation. He also served as Assistant Church Clerk, and led the Archives and History Ministry for many years. A graduate of Columbia University, Harvard University, and CUNY, he has written extensively on Black and LGBTQ+ history. In the 1980s, McGruder was part of a cohort of Black gay men who came to Greenwich Village to find community and particularly to write and organize. In his oral history, McGruder shares the arc of his life and experiences, his time in Greenwich Village, and its role in Black gay life in the 1980s.
Village Preservation maintains scores of oral histories with figures who witnessed, participated in, or made significant history in our neighborhoods, including Jane Jacobs, Penny Arcade, Wolf Kahn, Jonas Mekas, Marlis Momber, Edwin Fancher, Margot Gayle, David Amram, Matt Umanov, Merce Cunningham, Joan Davidson, Richard Meier, Ralph Lee, Mimi Sheraton, John Guare, Calvin Trillin, and Chino Garcia.