100 Objects #21: Window from the House of D
99% Invisible

100 Objects #21: Window from the House of D

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 23, 202637 min
  • Documentary

In 1932, the Women's House of Detention—New York City's first women's prison—opened in the heart of Greenwich Village. It was opened to make "wayward" women quiet, private, and properly feminine. And the building had one unique feature originally meant to be a sort of kindness—a special kind of window that the women inside could open. Roman Mars and historian Hugh Ryan trace how those special windows had an impact that nobody could have predicted—helping to build a mecca of gay America and, ultimately, a movement. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes...

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This is Audra Lorde, the celebrated writer and poet.

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Are you rolling, Marty? This is Audra Lorde, the celebrated writer and poet. She's being interviewed here for an oral history about Greenwich Village. It's a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan that today is one of the most famously gay places

0:17

in the country. Think Rainbow Crosswalks, the Stonewall Inn. But back when Audra moved there in the late 40s, it was just starting to get that reputation. The village was the place where the outsiders went.

0:33

It was the place where the artists, the funny people. Audra had long known that she was one of the funny people. Queer. A black poet in an all-white high school. So at 17, she left home for good.

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