Arvada High School Students Commemorate 52nd Anniversary of Stonewall Riots
(Denver, CO) — Pop Culture Classroom, a Colorado-based pop culture-focused education, and community group, today released a new student-written comic that tells the story of the 1969 Stonewall Riots and their important implications for people in the LGBTQ+ community.
“Pride is coming up, and we think this is a beautiful addition to the celebration,” commented Pop Culture Classroom Education Program Manager Matt Slayter in prepared remarks for the comic’s release. “The students of Arvada High School have brought incredible thought, imagination, and passion to this project. The finished comic is educational, uplifting, and timely.”
“History Erased: The Stonewall Riots,” tells the story of the Stonewall Riots in 1969, a pivotal moment in the history of LGBTQ+ visibility and civil rights. The comic can be found in printed copies of OUT FRONT Magazine and is available for free download at PopCultureClassroom.org/stonewall-comic.
The comic was created and written by history students at Arvada High School last year. Pop Culture Classroom worked with local comic creator Dylan Edwards (http://www.studiondr.com/) to illustrate the students’ script and transform it into a final, finished comic in time for this year’s Pride Celebration.
Now available, “History Erased,” tells the true story of how a community of New Yorkers banded together in the face of discrimination and violence to help ignite the modern gay liberation movement and advance LGBTQ+ equality.
“History Erased” is the latest issue in Pop Culture Classroom’s Colorful History series of free, educational comics about important figures, ideas, events, and places in U.S. and Colorado history. Students helped create several comics in the series.
Like other Colorful History issues, each “History Erased” comic download from Pop Culture Classroom’s website includes a teaching guide with standards-aligned discussion questions and project ideas to promote literacy and an understanding of this important historical event.
“What happened at Stonewall in 1969 matters today,” said Slayter. “Our hope is for this student-created comic to help readers understand and explore this important event.”
Pop Culture Classroom is a 501c3 education nonprofit dedicated to inspiring a love of learning, increasing literacy, celebrating diversity, and building community through the tools of popular culture and the power of self-expression.