Rooted in Resistance: Storytelling, Place, and the Reclaiming of Humanity in St. Louis, Missouri’s Gayborhood and Washington DC’s Black Lives Matter Plaza

American history is shaped by enduring systems of oppression, including chattel slavery, racial segregation, the criminalization and marginalization of same-sex relations and the ongoing legal challenges facing transgender communities. While oppressed communities engage in acts of resistance that can help reclaim humanity and foster healing, interpretation at contested heritage sites may overlook resistance as a vital humanizing and reparative process. This qualitative front-end research study draws on interviews with 32 participants—including scholars, students, artists, activists, law enforcement, clergy, government workers, and business owners—connected to St. Louis’s Central West End gayborhood and Washington, DC’s Black Lives Matter Plaza and uses reflexive thematic analysis to explore how stakeholders understand their contested heritage sites and what stories and meanings may guide their preservation and interpretation. Findings highlight ways to engage narratives of resistance through multiple lenses and practices that could strengthen culturally responsive interpretation at institutional and grassroots levels.