Cedar Chest

Cedar Chest was an organization for lesbians of color, started by Janice “Jaye” Vaughn in 1994. Inspired by the Umoja group, a group of queer Black professionals in Durham, Vaughn wanted to create a lesbian organization to address the lack of women in Umoja. The organization’s name, ‘Cedar Chest,’ was inspired by a cedar chest her grandmother passed down to the women in the family who were to get married, filled with many gifts and goods. Vaughn used the cedar chest as a metaphor for the organization. In the promotional flyer, she said, “I am ready, as I hope you are, to establish in our small community a cedar chest of hope for lesbians of color. This chest is full of energy, love, hope, charity, trust, and confidentiality. This is not an outing process or a political club. This is a place to share and support one another. The activities we do will be done at group meetings for us, be it literature, job networking, or any topic we need to share. To become a Cedar Chest Club member, all we ask is that everything be kept confidential.”

 To ensure this confidentiality, the Cedar Chest Club met at Vaughn’s apartment. This is also indicative of a greater pattern of gathering for people of color and women in the queer community. Many people of color utilized their living spaces as sites for gathering, navigating barriers such as segregation, racism, and an increased threat of destruction of their spaces. Women and people of color also faced greater barriers in gathering at public avenues due to economic limitations. The Cedar Chest Club is a great example of why many sites related to women and/or people of color are not as visible, and even less documented and historically protected than sites associated with white, gay, cisgender men.  

Learn more about Jaye and the Cedar Chest Club with this oral history.