Season 1
The LezQueer World before Bars, 1920s-1930s
Teaser: It Is Time to Get Back to Dyke Bars*
Holigays Special: B.D. Woman's Blues for You
Before the first lesbian bars, there were queer worlds built in rented rooms, smoky clubs, and parlor parties. In our premiere episode of Our Dyke Histories, host Jack Gieseking joins historians Lillian Faderman and Cookie Woolner trace the roots of lesbian and queer nightlife to the 1920s—a time before the first official “lesbian bars” in the 1930s, when parties, salons, and underground theaters created fleeting but fierce shindigs as sanctuaries. We visit spaces like Harlem’s rent parties and salons, Los Angeles Jane Jones’ Club and Tess’ Café Internationale, San Francisco’s Finocchio’s, Eve Adams’s legendary Eve’s Hangout in Greenwich Village, and even fly off with Amelia Earhart to South Dakota. Through stories of performers like Gladys Bentley, Bessie Smith, and A’Lelia Walker, we reveal how queer women of color shaped nightlife, pleasure, and possibility even under segregation, censorship, and prohibition. These were the rooms and places where we made dykedom public. ** Join Our Community Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on! Newsletter to your inbox: Jack's Queer Geographies newsletter with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time Instagram for more dyke visuals and stories @ourdykehistories Read and follow our co-producer and collaborator, Sinister Wisdom Email us questions and comments at ourdykehistories@gmail.com ** Credits Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom Co-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade Waldo Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson Interns: Michaela Hayes, Syd Guntharp, Sophie McClain, Paige LeMay, and Sarah Parsons Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion https://www.kitorion.com/ CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com for permission to use any of our content.
We’re backkkkkkkk. Get ready for the theorists and the activists, the lovers and the fighters, the rock stars and the resistance, the friendships and definitely the f*ckers (of all types) – welcome back to Our Dyke Histories! In this second part of our first season, we are continuing to create and share more of this content we love about dyke bars*, including lesbian bars, queer parties, and trans hangouts. We'll pick up where we left off, digging into the 1980s through the present day. We'll dive deep in Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian-American queer, trans, and Two-Spirit dyke bars*, and explore the art and why dyke bars* are so popular. I’ll be chatting with more incredible guests like Sarah Schulman, Kemi Adeyemi, Lucas Hildebrand, the hosts of Cruising Pod, Dian Million, Katherine Forrest, Trish Bendix, and more. And to get y’all revved up for the shows to come, we’re sharing our truly delicious first season promo again. Because, really, our friends and commenters said it was so hot we should release it again. ** Come for the history; stay for the revolution, gossip, and desire that built it. 🤌 ** About Us Decade by decade, Our Dyke Histories dives deep into the living, breathing past and present of lesbian, queer, trans, & nonbinary communities. Each season traces how we made space for ourselves—sometimes in bars, bookstores, and protests; sometimes in basements, alleyways, and prisons; & always against the odds. Our Dyke Histories is hosted by historian, geographer, and environmental psychologist Dr. Jack Jen Gieseking, and produced in collaboration with Sinister Wisdom, the oldest lesbian multicultural literary and art journal. ** Join Our Community Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on! Newsletter to your inbox: Jack's Queer Geographies newsletter with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time Instagram for more dyke visuals and stories @ourdykehistories Read and follow our co-producer and collaborator, Sinister Wisdom Email us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com ** Credits Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom Co-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade Waldo Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson Interns: Becca Moses, Sophie McClain Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen Music: "Like Honey" from Kit Orion CC-BY-NC-ND 2026. Write to us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com for permission to use any of our content.
While we'll back next, this short holigays hallo is sharing one of the queerest songs in blues history. Enjoy! B.D. Woman’s Blues Song by Lucille Bogan Coming a time, B.D. women ain't gon' need no men Coming a time, B.D. womens ain't gon' to need no men Oh, the way treat us is a lowdown and dirty sin B.D. women, you sure can't understand B.D. women, you sure can't understand They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural man B.D. women, they all done learnt their plan B.D. women, they all done learnt their plan They can lay their jive just like a natural man B.D. women, B.D. women, you know they sure is rough B.D. women, B.D. women, you know they sure is rough They all drink up plenty whiskey and they sure will strut their stuff B.D. women, you know they work and make their dough B.D. women, you know they work and make their dough And when they get ready to spend it, they know they have to go ** Credits Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion https://www.kitorion.com/ CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com for permission to use any of our content.
Come for the history; stay for the revolution, gossip, and desire that built it. 🤌 ** About Us Decade by decade, Our Dyke Histories dives deep into the living, breathing past and present of lesbian, queer, trans, & nonbinary communities. Each season traces how we made space for ourselves—sometimes in bars, bookstores, and protests; sometimes in basements, alleyways, and prisons; & always against the odds. Our Dyke Histories is hosted by historian, geographer, and environmental psychologist Dr. Jack Jen Gieseking, and produced in collaboration with Sinister Wisdom, the oldest lesbian multicultural literary and art journal. ** Season One Our first season traces the history of dyke bars* - yes, with an asterisk - including lesbian bars, queer parties, & trans hangouts. Before Pride marches and hashtags, there were bars, parties, and whispered invitations that built whole worlds. Our Dyke Histories uncovers the stories of the women, trans, and nonbinary people who turned repression into resistance and nightlife into liberation. From the 1920s tearooms of Eve Adams to Harlem rent parties, from the Women’s House of Detention to 1970s consciousness-raising collectives and 1980s synthesizer-lit dance floors, each episode uncovers how we turned danger into joy, censorship into art, & survival into community. ** Join Our Community Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. 😏 Come comment, connect, and get your gayme on! Newsletter to your inbox: Jack's Queer Geographies newsletter with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiqueertrans spaces across time Instagram for more dyke visuals and stories @ourdykehistories Read and follow our co-producer and collaborator, Sinister Wisdom Email us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com ** Credits Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom Co-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade Waldo Assistant Editor: Mel Whitesell Social Media: Audrey Wilkinson Interns: Michaela Hayes, Syd Guntharp, Sophie McClain, Paige LeMay, and Sarah Parsons Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen Music: "Hot Water" by National Sweetheart 1920s-1930s background: 1940s-1960s background: 1970s background: 1980s background: Radio fade: CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com for permission to use any of our content.