IMPORTANT UPDATE:
{B/qKC} is now an independently-run, fiscally-sponsored archival project separate from The Kansas City Defender.
Research articles will remain visible on this site in continuing making Black queer history accessible.
All materials and inaugural collections part of {B/qKC} have been re-licensed directly with Founder Nasir Anthony Montalvo and the {B/qKC} entity.
A new website and digital database for {B/qKC} will be launching in 2025!
To get in contact about this project, please reach out to Founder Nasir Anthony Montalvo at nasiranthonymontalvo@gmail.com.
<LGBTQIA2+>
//founder: nasir anthony montalvo
//inaugural_collections_from:
gary carrington
tisha taylor
starla carr
{B/qKC} is a dynamic community archive challenging out-dated archival practices through accessible storytelling, socioeconomic reparation, and intergenerational power building–all within the frame and study of midwestern Black queer history.
Core Goals
{B/qKC} has evolved from its humble beginnings as an institutional research project to a full-fledged Black queer digital archive: conducting investigative research into local Black queer history, collecting historical materials through free digitization services for the community, and educating with these materials through open-access formats.
These are the following core goals of {B/qKC}:
1) Intergenerational Connection and Community Building
2) Accessible and Open Digital Archiving
3) Community Engagement and Education
4) Preservation and Support
5) Permanent and Decentralized Physical Presence
Learn how to support these goals through the {B/qKC} Sponsorship Guide.
Project summary
{B/qKC} is a Black queer digital archive educating the Kansas City community on the contributions of local Black LGBTQIA2S+ community members. With bigoted legislation and representation that actively seeks to erase our knowledge and indoctrinate future generations, it is more important than ever to document our histories—not just as static stories but as didactic, interactive artifacts that educate, challenge, storytell, pay homage, repair, destroy, and build anew.
Conceptualized and curated by Nasir Anthony Montalvo through The Kansas City Defender, Montalvo is building a free, accessible, living database of Black queer history–challenging local institutions and their colonization of historical record–and sharing a widely unknown plight of Midwesterners living on the ‘fringe.’
Background
The project began as a two-fold response: (1) to the lack of local resources and spaces for Black queer community members to relish in, and (2) to local universities and institutions retaining ownership of a small portion of our histories with no plans to digitize or widely share any of the artifacts donated to them. Since {B/qKC}’s founding in April 2022, the project has “liberated” various aspects of our histories: including information on the first documented Black drag queens of Kansas City, an organization of gay men fighting racism in the community in the 90’s, and a gay and lesbian variety show called “Out There” that aired on public-access cable.
In early 2023, after researching Volume 1 of the project, Montalvo morphed these archival materials into a multi-location, self-service exhibit from February 27th – March 4th, 2023 hosted at different locations across Kansas City–with each location hosting different materials from the volume. Montalvo did this to increase open-access and knowledge of the “stamp” Black queer Kansas Citians have made on the City. In picking exhibit locations across the City, Montalvoa lso wanted to explore various aspects of Blackness: Montalvo chose a coffee shop in the historic Northeast to break down harmful misconceptions about the neighborhood, Café Corazón to show solidarity between Black and Latin American communities and honor Montalvo’s own Afro-Latine identity, and a radical bookstore to illustrate commitment to solidarity building.
Volume_1’s exhibit, also, had a grand opening and week-long feature at BlaqOut’s newest space on Main Street in May 2023; and was housed at PH Coffee in the Historic Northeast for the entirety of Summer 2023.
Learn more
This project is grant-funded by Stories For All. Stories For All is a collaborative digital storytelling project created by The University of Kansas, Hall Center For The Humanities, and the Mellon Foundation “to recover marginalized and suppressed histories, and share them widely through digital media.” Learn more here.
Learn more
This project is presented in partnership with BlaqOut. BlaqOut is a united community of individual advocates, community activists and healthcare professionals who work to address the psychosocial and environmental challenges faced by Black MSM in the Greater Kansas City Area. Learn more about the organization here.
Learn more
This project has in-kind support from astringent press. astringent press
is a low-to-no cost, independent book/zine/text/poster/etc. press based in Kansas City, Missouri. Learn more here.
VOLUME_2
Volume_2 launches {B/qKC} as its own standing digital archive and begins by telling the story of Soakie’s: a sandwich shop in Downtown Kansas City that, through an unlikely partnership between the Italian mob and two Black gay men, would become a booming Black gay nightclub from 1993 – 2004.
The launch of {B/qKC} as its own archive also means new forays of work, including installs at art gallery, Charlotte Street, and abolitionist-praxis applied essay to {B/qKC}‘s collected ephemera.
Remembering “Soakie’s”: Kansas City’s former Black gay bar from the Y2K Era
READ_NOW
The launch of {B/qKC} as its own standing Black queer community archive begins with Soakie’s: a former Black gay bar in Kansas City from 1994-2004.
The Erasure and (Sexual) Subjugation of Black Queer Kansas Citians; A Brief Historical Look
READ_NOW
An unabridged version of an essay featured in the Urban League of Greater Kansas City’s 2023 State of Black Kansas City.
Kansas City’s newest archive pays $2000 in reparative stipends to three Black queer legends
READ_NOW
On March 1st, 2024, {B/qKC}, a new Black queer community archive, opened in Kansas City with a launch party, exhibit preview and powerful message on reparations.
Listen to {B/qKC}: Volume_2’s playlist,
curated by Nasir Anthony Montalvo.
Volume_1
Volume_1 was Montalvo’s liberatory research and work into their local archives, namely the Gay and Lesbian Archives of Mid-America. The below articles are the culmination of Montalvo’s groundbreaking research that started it all.
Remembering Edye and Ray: The First (Documented) Black Drag Queens of Kansas City
READ_NOW
Edye Gregory and Ray Rondell are some of Kansas City’s first documented Black Drag Queens and, more broadly, part of the only recorded histories of Black, Queer Kansas Citians at large.
Men of All Colors Together: The Kansas City organization fighting racism amidst gay men in the 80’s–90’s
READ_NOW
In 1980, this group of Kansas Citians founded a social club and safe space for those seeking to fight racism amongst queer men of all races.
Kansas City’s “Out There”: The 90’s Gay & Lesbian Variety Show Featuring Lea Hopkins
READ_NOW
In 1993, a group of 16 people came together to launch Kansas City’s first-ever Gay and Lesbian Variety Show on American Cablevision in light of statewide, anti-queer legislation.
Listen to {B/qKC}: Volume_1’s playlist,
curated by Nasir Anthony Montalvo.
Media_Features
A selection of {B/qKC}‘s media coverage from local and national outlets.
EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS
As part of expanding access to these Black queer Kansas City histories–and creating new, innovative ways to engage with the historical–{B/qKC} and Montalvo generate various artistic, public exhibitions and installations throughout the year.
Find images and descriptions of {B/qKC}‘s past exhibitions on Nasir Anthony Montalvo’s portfolio site: https://1800nasi.net/bqkc
MERCHANDISE
Limited-edition merchandise has been created for the archive in allowing audiences to more deeply engage with the historical material collection, and financially support the Black queer digital archive.
Volume_2
The {B/qKC} x Oddities Prints: Bandana & Risograph Print, created by Oddities Prints.
> Learn_more
Volume_1
The The Kansas City Defender x Oddities Prints: Tote Bag & Risograph Print, created by Oddities Prints.
> Learn_more
The {B/qKC} Volume_1 Mini Zine x Poster, created in partnership with Astringent Press.
> Purchase_now
PARTNERS_SPONSORS
