{"id":2508,"date":"2026-06-30T13:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T13:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2508"},"modified":"2026-06-30T13:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T13:06:16","slug":"how-this-plaza-midwood-house-birthed-nations-longest-running-lesbian-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2508","title":{"rendered":"How this Plaza Midwood house birthed nation\u2019s longest running lesbian journal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A little known piece of Charlotte\u2019s history celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2506\">Jerry O\u2019Connell Says He Likes Smell of Wife Rebecca Romijn\u2019s \u2018Body Odor\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The nation\u2019s longest running lesbian journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sinisterwisdom.org\/node\/15\"><u>Sinister Wisdom<\/u><\/a> was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.charlottenc.gov\/CS-Prep\/City-News\/Charlotte-LGBTQ-History-Timeline\"><u>founded in the Queen City.<\/u><\/a> Its history is intertwined with Charlotte\u2019s old Women\u2019s Center and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/charlottefive\/c5-around-town\/article316253071.html\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\"><u>neighborhoods<\/u><\/a> still recognized as LGBTQ-friendly.<\/p>\n<p>Catherine Nicholson, a drama professor at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and her then-partner Harriet Ellenberger founded and ran Sinister Wisdom for five years before they passed it on to new editors in 1981. The current editor, Julie Enszer, has led the publication since 2010. And in recent years, Sinister Wisdom expanded to publish a book series and offer educational programs, and it still prints quarterly.<\/p>\n<p>As Pride Month comes to a close, the journal is about to reach its founding date: July 1976.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was the best part of my life,\u201d Ellenberger told The Charlotte Observer. \u201cThe one time when what I could give was needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ellenberger and Nicholson met in the 1970s at the Charlotte Women\u2019s Center. Ellenberger helped found the center in 1971, according to an ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/goldmine.charlotte.edu\/search?c=Charlotte+Women's+Center+Oral+History+Project&amp;cc=Charlotte+Women's+Center+Oral+History+Project&amp;ln=en\"><u>oral history project<\/u><\/a> through <a href=\"https:\/\/library.charlotte.edu\/\"><u>UNCC\u2019s J. Murrey Atkins Library<\/u><\/a>. The CWC operated through the early 1990s in Charlotte\u2019s Dilworth neighborhood, providing a gathering space for those rallying for women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1970s, there wasn\u2019t an LGBTQ community in Charlotte, partially because the term didn\u2019t exist yet, Ellenberger said. There were a few gay <a href=\"https:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/charlottefive\/c5-food-drink\/article276408711.html\"><u>bars<\/u><\/a>, but the CWC was the only place for lesbian activism.<\/p>\n<p>In 1975, Ellenberger, Nicholson and other lesbians in a group known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/uncpress.org\/9781469670553\/drastic-dykes-and-accidental-activists\/\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Drastic Dykes<\/u><\/a> split from the CWC due to infighting. Historian La Shonda Mims, who focuses on urban history with a particular interest in queer and women\u2019s studies, said this break allowed Ellenberger and Nicholson to create Sinister Wisdom in a space separate from the patriarchy.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2504\">Mecklenburg sales tax hike kicks in. You\u2019re going to pay more for these things<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I try to explain to my students who really have a hard time understanding the power of separatism is \u2018How many spaces and places do we see that are women supported, women operated and women populated?\u2019\u201d said Mims, who teaches at the University of Birmingham in England. \u201cThat just is not something we see very often and there is a power in it, and it\u2019s a rare power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sinister Wisdom operated out of a little white brick cottage Nicholson bought in East Charlotte at 3116 Country Club Drive, which Mecklenburg County added to its <a href=\"http:\/\/landmarkscommission.org\/historic-properties-2\/study-list-properties\/\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\"><u>prospective historic landmark list<\/u><\/a> in 2021 to be considered for the designation.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon Quarterly<i>,<\/i> a prominent lesbian literary arts journal, had ceased publication in 1975, and Ellenberger said there was a gap to fill. The couple published the journal\u2019s first issue in July 1976, which included notes from the editors, essays and poems. Over the years, they traveled nationwide to get submissions.<\/p>\n<p>In 1978, Nicholson and Ellenberger moved to Nebraska. A group of lesbian students at the University of Nebraska volunteered to work on the journal one night a week.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Sinister Wisdom\u2019s short-lived time in Charlotte, its impact on the area carries on, Mims said. It led to a \u201cconstant, queer publishing movement\u201d in the city, including <a href=\"https:\/\/qnotescarolinas.com\/\"><u>QNotes<\/u><\/a>, still active today. And, although Charlotte <a href=\"https:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/charlottefive\/c5-around-town\/article316253071.html\"><u>doesn\u2019t have a specific LGBTQ neighborhood<\/u><\/a>, Dilworth, where the CWC was located, and Plaza Midwood, where Nicholson\u2019s house was, are still recognized as queer-friendly spaces.<\/p>\n<p>Nicholson and Ellenberger\u2019s ability to fund and publish their own words and the words of other lesbians was also significant given the nationwide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1970\/04\/14\/archives\/9-women-arrested-in-5hour-sitin-at-grove-press.html\"><u>protests<\/u><\/a> against male-dominated publishing houses in the early 1970s, Mims said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt meant we were free. We were free to accept anything we wanted to, and we did,\u201d Ellenberger said. \u201cWe were very open to different viewpoints.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2502\">This historic Myers Park church says \u2018Baptist\u2019 was a \u2018barrier\u2019 for its congregation<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published <span class=\"inline-block\">June 30, 2026 at 5:00 AM<span>.<\/span><\/span><!-- --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1976, two women founded the nation\u2019s longest running lesbian journal, Sinister Wisdom. It fostered areas of Charlotte still recognized as queer-friendly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How this Plaza Midwood house birthed nation\u2019s longest running lesbian journal - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2508\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How this Plaza Midwood house birthed nation\u2019s longest running lesbian journal - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1976, two women founded the nation\u2019s longest running lesbian journal, Sinister Wisdom. 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