The Illinois Holocaust Museum rises to the occasion this October

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is showing its true colors this fall with many rainbows at a brand new exhibition. Titled Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement arrived on October 17 and has a nice, long run planned until May 8, 2022. 

The project is housed inside the Illinois Holocaust Museum which is part of the organization's philosophy of spotlighting unrecognized voices in history. The special presentation follows the journey of the LGBTQ+ community since the Stonewell raid in 1969. 

Rise Up has a long timeline to cover and is curated with large charts and unique artifacts. Posters from activist Harvey Milk's campaign can be found here and the original rainbow flag from Gilbert Baker is autographed and on display. 

There is a pop-culture section that organizes historic moments over the years including Ellen DeGeneres coming out publicly on television and Pedro Zamora raising AIDS awareness from his platform as a cast member on MTV's Real World. There are many more that make a strong image of how far the community has come over the years such as transgender representation on FX's Pose and RuPaul's Drag Race crossing over into the straight world. 

The sheer size of this installation is significant and this must be the largest LGBTQ+ exhibition in the United States aside from the National  LGBT Museum in New York City or the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco. There are 85 items on display and things are constantly updated to reflect current legislature and events. 

Ticket holders can see many powerful images while exploring the exhibit such as its Pride marches over the years. Turns out Chicago held the first actual Pride parade in history, a surprising fact that may be unknown to many. 

Rise Up: Stonewall and the LGBTQ Rights Movement was developed by Newseum, an affiliate of the Freedom Forum. It gives the viewer a unique chance to see artifacts up close and personal while walking through historic moments along the way. 

Some of the language contained inside may be harsh to some, but a part of history. The bigots were so ignorant that they couldn't even spell the slurs correctly. The world has come a long way, but still has a ways to go. 

Rise Up accomplishes the goal of bringing awareness to this ever-evolving cause while educating the public in a moving way that should resonate with many people for a long time to come. 

Come on out to 9603 Woods Drive in Skokie, Illinois to see the exhibition Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information visit iholocaustmuseum.org.