Kevin McGruder

Kevin McGruder was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. He received a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University, an M.B.A. in Real Estate Finance from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Before pursuing doctoral studies, he worked for many years in nonprofit community development, including as Program Officer with Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Director of Real Estate Development with the Abyssinian Development Corporation, and Executive Director of Gay Men of African Descent. He is an active member of Other Countries, a Black gay men’s writing collective that was founded in 1986. He is currently an Associate Professor of History at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio.
This oral history includes extensive discussion of Other Countries’ founding and history, particularly its deep roots in the West Village and shifts in the group’s focus during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The oral history highlights the group’s different publications and its focus on the importance of print publishing, noting the imperative of being “heard in print,” or preserving legacy in print. McGruder also discusses the queer geography of the West Village and its influence on the intellectual and social lives of himself and his peers, from the bars to the piers. He concludes with reflections on the importance of oral history for preserving social history in a way that the archives alone fail to capture.