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Fierceness Served! The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse

Directors

Michelle Parkerson

Producers

Shelle'e M. Haynesworth

Editors

Qinling LI

Cinematographers

Qinling Li, T.L. Benton, Arthur Nazaryan, Efokoa Simon Elive

Fierceness Served! The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse profiles the local history of a Black LGBTQ performance venue and rehearsal space for artists and a meeting place for Black Gay and Lesbian political organizations in Washington, DC from the 1980s to mid-90s.

The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse, once located in the now-gentrified H Street N.E. neighborhood, was the epicenter of a DC cultural renaissance that paralleled the Harlem Renaissance. The Coffeehouse operated during a time of significant political ferment in Washington, DC, at the height of the AIDS and crack epidemics.

Michelle Parkerson

Michelle Parkerson

Director, Fierceness Served! The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse

Michelle Parkerson is a writer, lecturer and award-winning filmmaker based in Washington, DC. Her documentaries have aired on PBS and screened at prestigious international festivals including The Sundance Film Festival, The Berlin International Film Festival and AFI Fest. She has documented the lives of LGBTQ icon Audre Lorde, jazz innovator Betty Carter, acappella activists Sweet Honey in the Rock and legendary male impersonator, Storme’ DeLarverie.  Her earlier films are currently streaming on The Criterion Channel.

Michelle has served on the film faculties of Northwestern University, Temple University, Howard University and in the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Delaware. She was also an Advisory Commissioner with the DC Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and a Board Member of Mary’s House for Older Adults, Inc.