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Stories by author "Robert Rickey": 4

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Upstairs Lounge Fire, 1973: News Coverage

By Jennifer Conerly, Drue Hardegree, Robert Rickey, August Darbonne, ed. & Charlotte Willcox, ed.
National press coverage of the Upstairs Lounge fire was rather light and short-lived considering the scale of the crime. Coverage in New Orleans was insensitive and callous; newspaper reporters described “bodies stacked up like pancakes” and groups…

Upstairs Lounge Fire, 1973: In Memoriam

By Jennifer Conerly, Drue Hardegree, Robert Rickey, August Darbonne, ed. & Charlotte Willcox, ed.
The Upstairs Lounge had served as the home of a religious denomination, the Metropolitan Community Church; however, no church would allow a prayer service for those who died, except for the pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church. Father Bill…

Upstairs Lounge Fire, 1973: 32 Deaths

By Jennifer Conerly, Drue Hardegree, Robert Rickey, August Darbonne, ed. & Charlotte Willcox, ed.
June 24, 1973 seemed like any other night at the Upstairs Lounge. The Metropolitan Community Church had just finished a worship service and was hosting a social event with free beer and food for about 125 people. As the night went on, this number…

Upstairs Lounge: Gay Culture & the Metropolitan Community Church

By Jennifer Conerly, Drue Hardegree, Robert Rickey, August Darbonne, ed. & Charlotte Willcox, ed.
In the early 1970s, LGBT culture in New Orleans remained hidden from the public eye. Instead of openly expressing sexuality and engaging in public displays of affection, most LGBT people were “in the closet” and would socialize in bars that catered…
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This work is licensed by The Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at the University of New Orleans under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.
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Funding for technical support provided by anonymous donors in memory of the Samuelson, Wolfson, and Fertel families.

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