“The Remarkable Reed Peggram”
by: Bry Sharland
Oil on Canvas — 18” x 24”
“Pride resonates throughout the queer joy and defiance of Reed Peggram’s life. A Black man from Dorchester, Massachusetts, he constantly pushed himself to rise above the intersecting discrimination he faced in pre-WWII America as both Black and gay. Thanks to his grandmother’s unwavering support, he attended Boston Latin School as one of only a handful of people of color that had ever attended, and continued on to earn two degrees from Harvard University. Afterward, he left America to escape the racism and homophobia he faced and studied in France, only to find himself trapped there when war broke out.
It was here he met, and fell in love with, Dutch art student Arne Hauptmann. They fled country to country evading the Nazis and living their truth together. In contrast to many queer couples I encountered in my Holocaust research, where one partner was able to escape, Reed refused to leave without Arne, remaining by his side no matter the cost. Even after being sent to concentration camps due to “sexual degeneracy” they found each other again. When the Allies bombed the camp, they escaped and lived in the mountains together, until by chance, they were rescued by the Buffalo soldiers division of the American Army.
My work on the Pink Triangle Portraits celebrates the queer joy and life stories of queer people that experienced and suffered the Holocaust. I show their pride through color and presentation, and removing the Nazi narrative from their stories, giving back their agency to them. May Reed’s memory endure as part of our collective remembrance of queer people and people of color whose histories have too often been erased or diminished.”
