Bookmark Indy Lunch and Learn: Indianapolis Drag History

Event Details

Bookmark Indy author Alan Helms grew up in Indianapolis during the 1940s and 1950s, and although his introduction to gay life primarily came after he left for New York City, LGBTQ+ people were living, working and building a community in his hometown. Stephen Lane will help us learn more about the LGBTQ+ community in Indianapolis during Helms’s time with a presentation of his graduate research on the long history of drag in Indianapolis, especially along Indiana Avenue. In addition to jazz musicians, from 1933 through the 1970s drag queens also graced the stages of the clubs that once populated Indiana Avenue, including the Madam Walker Theater.