Route 66 2SLGTBQ+
Historic Sites Project
Route 66 2SLGTBQ+
Historic Sites Project
The Route 66 2SLGBTQ Historic Sites Project, an Official Route 66 Centennial Initiative, is an upcoming project documenting and mapping sites related to Two Spirit and LGBTQ history along the United States’ most iconic highway.
The project’s website will allow users to explore historic sites through an interactive map, with each point corresponding to a written entry illustrated with digital artwork and historic and contemporary photos.
Project Details
“The most American thing in America is Route 66,” as New Republic columnist Richard Strout declared in 1956.
With the highway being a microcosm of the US that traverses diverse geographies, it offers a unique lens into place-based Two Spirit and LGBTQ history. By documenting and mapping sites related to this history along the highway, the Route 66 2SLGBTQ Historic Sites Project will ensure that this underrepresented history is made visible and accessible, and integrated into how the iconic highway is commemorated during the centennial in 2026. .
With experience from the award-winning NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, this independent project will similarly include a map-based website (route66queersites.org) and associated social media accounts (@route66queersites) that will allow users to easily discover extant places related to 2SLGBTQ history along Route 66.
Each point on the map will correspond with a published historic site. Clicking on the map marker will redirect users to the corresponding written entry of about 250-400 words. Each of these will be illustrated with historic and contemporary photos, as well as personal digital illustrations
Each point on the map will correspond with a published historic site. Clicking on the map marker will redirect users to the corresponding written entry of about 250-400 words. Each of these will be illustrated with historic and contemporary photos, as well as personal digital illustrations
These sites will explore various themes and eras in LGBTQ history, including the gender diversity historically prevalent and honored in many Native American cultures (2S: Two Spirit), the LGBTQ travel experience, LGBTQ nightlife and bar culture, the fight against censorship and discrimination, the outsize influence of LGBTQ people in American arts and culture, LGBTQ entrepreneurship, the emergence of community groups related to LGBTQ activism and social gathering, and the AIDS epidemic..