Oral History Interview with Kate Thompson
- Title
- Oral History Interview with Kate Thompson
- LC Subject
- Lesbianism Lesbian community
- Local Collection ID
- Coll 520
- Repository
- University of Oregon. Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
- Interviewee
- Thompson, Kate (Artist)
- Interviewer
- Long, Linda, 1956- Raiskin, Judith L.
- Description
- The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection consists of interviews of 83 people for the Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, conducted by Professor Judith Raiskin and Curator Linda Long at the University of Oregon starting in the summer of 2018.
- Abstract
- Kate was born in 1953 in Los Angeles and grew up mostly in Altadena, California. Altadena was a racially integrated community. Kate and her siblings were raised by her mother, who was ill for much of Kate’s childhood. She describes turbulent times when the schools were beginning racial integration policies. Around the same time, there was a major earthquake in Los Angeles in 1971. These events disrupted Kate’s education, so she dropped out and hitchhiked with a friend to Springfield, Oregon. She worked odd jobs in Springfield and Eugene. She met a printer, Sean O’Reilly, with whom Kate printed lots of anti-draft and anti-war leaflets. Kate describes Jackrabbit Press and where it was located. Kate describes becoming a lesbian and the dynamics of the lesbian community. Kate discusses the women with whom she was involved. She describes the gay bar, the Riviera Room and the older generation of lesbians who predated the lesbian migration of younger women. Kate describes the operation and focus of Jackrabbit Press. In 1976, Kate moved to Seattle and began printing there. She did anti-racist and Native rights work. She then started working in graphic design, rather than printing. She worked as an art director at the Village Voice and Entertainment Weekly in New York, and for the Seattle Weekly. She was an early digital designer at Paul Allen's Starwave in the 1990s. Later, she became the founding Creative Director at ABCNews online. Kate retired in 2012, but kept a few clients. She now lives on Vashon Island and works as an artist. A recent show of her work featured paintings of older lesbians. Kate concludes her interview by discussing lesbians and aging, evolutionary plant engineering, and why the lesbian community became her true home.
- Subject
- Aging; Bars (Drinking establishments) -- Oregon – Eugene; Butch and femme (Lesbian culture); Eugene (Or.) -- Social conditions; Feminism; Feminist bookstores; Gibbons, Jane; Growers Market; Lesbian identity; Morrigan, Kendra; Mother Kali’s Books; Motorcycles; Newman, Connie; O’Reilly, Sean; Plant genetic engineering; Printing; Racial integration; Reddick, Shelley; Riviera Room; Spirituality; Springfield Creamery; Starflower Natural Foods & Botanicals; Vaden, Paula Jo; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- United States.
- Location
- University of Oregon >> Lane County >> Oregon >> United States
- Date
- 2018-09-07
- Identifier
- Coll520_do058
- Rights
- In Copyright
- Dc Rights Holder
- University of Oregon Libraries
- Local Collection Name
- Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
- Type
- Collection
- Format
- application/xml
- Set
- Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
- Primary Set
- Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
- Institution
- University of Oregon
