# Canonical recap data for Stonewall Uprising (1969)
# Source: https://recap.at/1969/stonewall-uprising
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: stonewall-uprising
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1969/stonewall-uprising"
title: Stonewall Uprising
aliases:
- Stonewall riots
- Stonewall uprising
- June 28, 1969
- Stonewall rebellion
subtitle: The police raid on New York's Stonewall Inn sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and decades of activism.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1969-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1969
decade: 1960
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Stonewall Uprising is a 2010 American documentary film examining the events surrounding the Stonewall riots that began during the early hours of June 28, 1969. Stonewall Uprising made its theatrical debut on June 16, 2010, at the Film Forum in New York City. The film features interviews with 15 participants and eyewitn
summaryLong: Stonewall Uprising is a 2010 American documentary film examining the events surrounding the Stonewall riots that began during the early hours of June 28, 1969. Stonewall Uprising made its theatrical debut on June 16, 2010, at the Film Forum in New York City. The film features interviews with 15 participants and eyewitnesses to the riots, including many who were active in the uprising and later went on to form gay liberation groups, as well as law enforcement who participated in the raids that precipitated the rebellion.
lede: "On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village. What started as a routine arrest became a multi-day uprising that sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The riots marked a turning point: rather than accept harassment, the community fought back."
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Stonewall_uprising.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Stonewall Uprising"
importance: 87
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Location
  value: Stonewall Inn, 53 Christopher Street, Greenwich Village, New York City
- label: Date
  value: June 28–July 3, 1969
- label: Duration of initial riot
  value: Approximately 6 hours (early morning June 28)
- label: Estimated participants (first night)
  value: 100–600 people
- label: Police force
  value: New York Police Department (NYPD) raid team
- label: Reported arrests (first night)
  value: 13 people
- label: Key figure
  value: Marsha P. Johnson, Black trans activist and key organizer of resistance
- label: First Pride March
  value: June 28, 1970, New York City (one year after uprising)
timeline:
- date: 1969-06-28
  title: Police raid the Stonewall Inn
  description: NYPD officers conduct a raid on the Stonewall Inn in the early morning hours. Rather than dispersing quietly, patrons and street youth resist, initiating a confrontation that escalates into a riot.
- date: 1969-06-28
  title: Uprising spreads through Greenwich Village
  description: Hundreds gather in the streets surrounding the bar. Protesters throw rocks, bricks, and bottles at police. Fires are set. The riot continues for approximately 6 hours before police establish control.
- date: 1969-06-29
  title: Second night of resistance
  description: Crowds reassemble the following evening. A larger, more organized group gathers; estimates suggest 1,000–2,000 people. Police deploy riot gear. Clashes continue through the night.
- date: 1969-06-30
  title: Third night; crowds reach peak size
  description: An estimated 2,000+ protesters fill Christopher Street. Chants of 'Gay Power' emerge. Police barricade the Stonewall Inn with wooden boards.
- date: 1969-07-03
  title: Uprising subsides
  description: After five days of intermittent clashes, police presence remains heavy but crowds thin. The immediate uprising phase concludes, though activist organizing accelerates.
- date: 1969-07-31
  title: First planning meeting for Pride March
  description: Activists, including members of the newly formed Gay Liberation Front, meet to organize a commemorative march for the following year.
- date: 1970-06-28
  title: First Pride March (New York)
  description: An estimated 5,000–10,000 march from Washington Square Park to Central Park. The march is explicitly framed as an anniversary commemoration of Stonewall and a declaration of gay pride.
- date: 1970-06-28
  title: Pride marches in Los Angeles and San Francisco
  description: On the same day, parallel Pride marches occur in Los Angeles and San Francisco, spreading the movement nationwide.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Uprising"
  title: Stonewall Uprising
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Stonewall galvanized LGBTQ+ activism from a scattered underground into an organized movement. Within a year, Pride marches emerged in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The uprising became the foundational myth for decades of civil rights organizing, legal battles, and cultural shift.
categories:
- protest
taxonomy:
domain: social_movement
eventTypes:
- riot
- protest
- civil_disobedience
- identity_movement
canonicalClasses:
- mobilization
- transformation
- conflict
impactRadius: global
velocity: cascading
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: spontaneous
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "The Stonewall uprising: how a 1969 police raid sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement."
wikidataQid: Q4443197
peoplesVoice:
- source: Inspector Seymour Pine, NYPD Tactical Patrol Force
  voiceType: official
  context: Police commander who led the raid on the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969, explaining the department's enforcement rationale.
  excerpt: We were there to enforce the law. Homosexuals were breaking the law, and we had a responsibility to maintain order in that area.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 75
  attribution: Synthesized from period NYPD statements and later interviews
  publishedAt: 1969-06-28
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Craig Rodwell, Stonewall witness and activist
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Co-owner of Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop nearby, reflecting on the spontaneous uprising as it unfolded on Christopher Street.
  excerpt: For the first time, we weren't going to take it anymore. People were standing up and fighting back. That's what made it different.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from oral histories and later activist accounts
  publishedAt: 1969-06-29
  originalLanguage: en
- source: The New York Times editorial board
  voiceType: media
  context: Major newspaper's measured response to the riots, published days after the uprising ended.
  excerpt: The police raid on a Greenwich Village bar was routine, but the reaction - violent resistance - was not. The causes run deep.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from New York Times coverage, June 29-30, 1969
  publishedAt: 1969-06-30
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Dick Leitsch, president of the Mattachine Society
  voiceType: expert
  context: Head of the major homophile rights organization, responding to Stonewall as a watershed moment for the movement.
  excerpt: This is the first time in history that gays have ever fought back. This may be the most significant event in the history of the homosexual movement.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Mattachine Society statements and interviews, July 1969
  publishedAt: 1969-07-02
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Village Voice journalist
  voiceType: media
  context: Contemporary street reporting from the epicenter of the uprising, capturing the shock and scale of the riots.
  excerpt: Hundreds of young people, many in drag, fought police for hours. Bottles and stones flew. Nothing like this had happened before in the gay community.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 78
  attribution: Synthesized from Village Voice coverage, June 30 - July 3, 1969
  publishedAt: 1969-07-03
  originalLanguage: en
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260427173100/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_uprising"
  capturedAt: 2026-04-27
  label: Stonewall Uprising
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Uprising"
