The Ladder: A Lesbian Review
The Ladder: A Lesbian Review
San Francisco: Daughters of Bilitis, 1956–1972
The Ladder was the journal of the Daughters of Bilitis, the primary organization for lesbians in the United States in the 1950s and 60s. Early issues of The Ladder often featured either cartoons or portraits in silhouette on the cover to preserve the privacy of the people involved. In the early 1960s when activists Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen took up editing The Ladder, they began featuring clear photographs of out lesbians on the cover of the magazine and added the subtitle “A Lesbian Review.” Pictured at right is Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few African Americans active in the homophile movement. She helped push the movement to engage in public demonstrations based on her own experience in the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Holding Division: Manuscripts and Archives Division, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Archival Collection: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Periodical Collection
Digital Collections: View Record
The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries.
