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Title: Screaming Queens collection
Dates: 1998-2009
Collection Number: 2008-35
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 6.25 linear feet (five cartons)
Online items available
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria is a documentary film directed by Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker. The
collection contains production materials from the film, as well as full recordings of the oral histories which are excerpted
in the film. These include interviews with Tenderloin residents and other people familiar with the Compton’s riots, including
Elliott Blackstone, Felicia Elizondo, Aleshia Brevard, Amanda St. Jaymes, Regina Elizabeth McQueen and Ed Hansen.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research.
All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT
Historical Society Archivist.
[Identification of item]. Screaming Queens collection. Collection Number: 2008-35. GLBT Historical Society
The collection was donated to the GLBT Historical Society by Susan Stryker in 2008 with additional materials donated by Victor
Silverman in 2022.
Biography/Administrative History
Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria is a documentary film directed by Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker. The
film tells the story of the 1966 riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, a local all-night diner frequented by the queer community in
the Tenderloin, and particularly by transgender women.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains production materials from the film, as well as full recordings of the oral histories which are excerpted
in the film. These include interviews with Tenderloin residents and other people familiar with the Compton’s riots, including
Elliott Blackstone, Felicia Elizondo, Aleshia Brevard, Amanda St. Jaymes, Regina Elizabeth McQueen and Ed Hansen. Other audiovisual
materials include the rough and final cuts of the film in various formats, master and VHS copies of the trailer, an audiocassette
of the Pacifica Radio show “Cops and Robbers II: Transsexuals and the Police,” (4/10/1968), as well as two VHS copies of documentaries
on San Francisco, SF in the 60s and Gay San Francisco.
The manuscripts and audiovisual collections contain production materials from Screaming Queens. These include the scripts,
production notes, clippings, budgets, invoices, grant applications, list of cast, crew, key personnel, releases, contracts,
photographs, and other production materials following the trajectory of the project from the original film proposal in 1996
through screenings in 2005. GSSO Linked Terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000130; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000384
Transgender people
Trans women
Motion pictures
Sex work
Law enforcement
Tenderloin (San Francisco, Calif.)