The Ithaca and Cortland area has always been home to people working toward human rights for everyone. They include abolitionists like George Johnson as well as 20th century civil rights leaders like James Gibbs.
Read on to learn about their lives and accomplishments and consider the lessons that can be applied in the fight for equality today.
Enslavement helped shape the Ithaca and Cortland region from its beginning. Tompkins and Cortland counties are both named for men who enslaved people. More than 100 people were enslaved in Tompkins, Cortland and Tioga counties in 1820, according to U.S. Census records.
There were also many people who worked together toward abolition, in small and large ways. Jerry and George Johnson, Black barbers in Ithaca, hosted freedom-seekers and gave them haircuts and fresh clothes to help disguise their appearance. St. James AME Zion Church in Ithaca hosted anti-slavery conventions with speakers including Frederick Douglass.
The LGBTQ+ civil rights movement in the Ithaca area began in 1970 with the creation of the Gay Liberation Front at Cornell University. The student-led organization created a “Gay People’s Center” that helped people find resources and build community in the face of adversity.
The LGBTQ+ community pushed back against harassment by local businesses as well as official discrimination. In 1977, gay advocates led by Michael Bacon successfully protested against a nightclub that refused to allow them in. In 1984 they got an anti-discrimination law passed at City Council.
In the decades since then, advocates in Ithaca have built on earlier victories and also expanded their focus to push for the rights of a wider range of LGBTQ+ people.