Walk this Way: Reframing Queer History Through a Walking Tour, by Mary Rizzo and Christina Strasburger
Mary Rizzo and Christina Strasburger discuss the creation of a Queer Newark walking tour in Chapter 11, “Walk This Way: Reframing Queer History through a Walking Tour.” They focus on four locations—Military Park, the former site of Murphy’s Tavern, the G Corner at Broad and Market Streets, and Halsey Street, many of which have been covered in previous chapters. They discuss the challenges of creating a walking tour that is logistically feasible, accessible to a diverse audience, and considerate of the range of stories included in the Queer Newark Oral History Project. They note that the tours are one of many projects, including an exhibit and a podcast, that seek to bring the interviews to people outside of academia.
Using an innovative approach to storytelling and analysis, Rizzo and Strasburger frame their chapter as if readers are joining a tour conducted by project volunteers.
One of the most important gay bars in Newark, Murphy’s Tavern, helped challenge laws against serving alcohol to gay people in the 1960s. Rizzo and Strasburger use Murphy’s as an example of the challenge of holding a queer history walking tour in a city where many of the landmarks mentioned in historical records are no longer standing.