Lake View East in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Oscar Wilde

The Legacy Walk

Photographed by Andrew Ruppenstein, August 26, 2021

1. Oscar Wilde Marker

Inscription.
Oscar Wilde
(British Dramatist, Poet, and Critic)
(1854 - 1900)

By the age of 40 Oscar Wilde was famous in Europe and the U.S. for penning The Picture of Dorian Gray, his influential political tract The Soul of a Man Under Socialism and his theater masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest. At the height of his fame he was publicly accused of being a ‘sodomite’ by John Douglas, the Marquis of Queensberry, with whose son, Lord Alfred, Wilde had been involved. His place in society threatened, Wilde sued Queensberry for libel. Losing the suit, he was indicted on charges of “gross indecency between males.” His first trial, remembered for its defense of “the love that dare not speak its name,” ended without a verdict; but he was tried again, lost, and was sentenced to two years at hard labor. When he was released from prison in 1897 he was a broken man. Bankrupt, bereft of friends, and his place in society, he went into exile. The dissipation that followed took a final toll on what remained of his health. He died on November 30, 1900 and was buried in France. Wilde’s persecution, which brought to light details about gay life among the upper class long kept hidden, ushered homosexuality into public view in a way it had not been – underscoring the decisive role the closet played in keeping it hidden from society even though it was

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not uncommon. The publicity surrounding Wilde’s trials had a chilling effect on the daily lives of countless terrified people who were driven only deeper into the closet; but it also led to the development of a nascent gay and lesbian consciousness that became central to the success of the GLBT Civil Rights Movement that was to follow.

Erected by The Legacy Project.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Entertainment. In addition, it is included in the The Legacy Walk series list. A significant historical date for this entry is November 30, 1900.

Location. 41° 56.969′ N, 87° 38.969′ W. Marker is in Chicago, Illinois, in Cook County. It is in Lake View East. It is on North Halsted Street north of West Waveland Avenue, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 3707 North Halsted Street, Chicago IL 60613, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on Chicago’s North Side. It is also in the American Midwest.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Great Lakes,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At

Oscar Wilde Marker - wide view, looking south on North Halsted image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Andrew Ruppenstein, August 26, 2021

2. Oscar Wilde Marker - wide view, looking south on North Halsted

The Wilde marker shares the rainbow pylon with the Audre Lorde marker.

least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Audre Lorde (here, next to this marker); James Baldwin (a few steps from this marker); Josephine Baker (a few steps from this marker); Dra. Antonia Pantoja (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Marsha P. Johnson (about 300 feet away); Sylvia Rivera (about 300 feet away); David Kato Kisule (about 600 feet away); Lorraine Hansberry (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Chicago.

Also see . . .
1. Oscar Wilde (Wikipedia).

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the circumstances of his criminal conviction for gross indecency for consensual homosexual acts in "one of the first celebrity trials", imprisonment, and early death from meningitis at age 46.

(Submitted on September 5, 2021.)

2. Top 10 Oscar Wilde Quotes and Why He Said Them (YouTube, 8 min.). (Submitted on September 5, 2021.)

Additional keywords. lgbt lgbtq

Marker inset: Oscar Wilde image. Click for full size.

3. Marker inset: Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde carte de visite image. Click for full size.

N. Sarony (courtesy of the New York Public Library), 1882

4. Oscar Wilde carte de visite

Credits. This page was last revised on January 30, 2023. It was originally submitted on September 5, 2021, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 459 times since then and 39 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on September 5, 2021, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California.