In 1920s Greenwich Village, a small tearoom on MacDougal Street became a quiet haven for radicals, writers, and members of the LGBTQ+ community—until its owner, Eve Adams, was branded a threat to American morality. A Jewish immigrant from Poland and an outspoken lesbian, Adams published Lesbian Love, a rare and defiant work of queer literature. For this act of courage, she was surveilled by the FBI, arrested for “obscenity,” and deported from the United States.

This presentation explores the extraordinary life of Eve Adams—a woman whose story connects the bohemian world of Greenwich Village and horrors of the Second World War. Drawing on new historical research, we’ll trace Adams’s fight for freedom of expression and identity in a world determined to silence her. We’ll also examine how the Village served as both a sanctuary and a battleground in the struggle for queer visibility and immigrant survival.

Kellie B. Gormly is an award-winning veteran journalist who freelances for national publications, including the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Woman’s World, and First for Women. She is a former staff writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Associated Press and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.