It Housed History: The Candy Shop’s Importance in the Black LGBTQ Community

The State Museum is partnering with Richland Library’s Let’s Talk Race program and Historic Columbia to have a community discussion about the Candy Shop nightclub and the intersection of bias across race, gender expression, and sexuality. The Candy Shop welcomed the LGBTQ community throughout the 1990s and several famous female impersonators performed on its stage. Historic Columbia Director of Research Katharine Allen will lead a panel discussion with those who attended the club as well as performers. This program is being presented in conjunction with the museum’s upcoming exhibition, The Bias Inside Us.

The Bias Inside Us is a national traveling exhibition and community engagement project from the Smithsonian Institution is an exploration of the social science, psychology, and consequences of bias. The Bias Inside Us draws from decades of scientific research to explain how our brains process information and make decisions.