Join scholar Kiahra Read for In Them We All Exist: Zines Making Black Lesbian Histories Visible, a talk and Q&A exploring the creation of digital and print zine, In Them We All Exist: Reflections and Resources on Black Lesbian Herstory in the Archives (New York Public Library, 2025).
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Lesbian Herstory Archives and the 25th anniversary of the Schomburg Center’s In The Life Archive, In Them We All Exist is a zine that commemorates the inextricably linked histories of these monumental institutions, and more broadly, of Black and queer communities. With a print run of 3,800 acid-free copies for archival posterity, In Them We All Exist can be found in permanent archival collections nationally and internationally, including at the ONE Archives at USC (Los Angeles, CA), Barnard Zine Library (New York, NY), Spinnboden Lesbian Archive and Library (Berlin, DE), Artexte (Montreal, QC), and the Australian Queer Archives (Melbourne, AUS). Considering the public reception and impact of In Them We All Exist as a tool for Black lesbian historical preservation and knowledge-sharing, this session emphasizes the importance of making knowledge free, accessible, and discoverable through creative methods like zine publications and digital curation, alongside traditional preservation. Following the presentation, there will be an opportunity for attendees to participate in a Q&A with Kiahra.
Participant Bios
Kiahra Read is a multidisciplinary scholar-artist, memory worker, and author. Her work has been exhibited at Artexte (Montreal, QC) and archived globally. Formerly, she supported the expansion of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s Digital Curation Initiative. Kiahra is a graduate and former John W. Kluge Scholar of Columbia University, where she was awarded honors for her research on Black lesbian cultural memory formation. Currently, she is expanding, refashioning, and imagining new expressions for this research, in pursuit of her Ph.D. in American Studies as a Mae Williamson Simmons Fellow at Brown University.
In Them We All Exist: Zines Making Black Lesbian Histories Visible is organized by Kiahra Read as part of the 2026 Circa: Queer Histories Festival, presented by One Institute.