We collaborated with Dr. Brice D. Smith and Janice Colby to capture interviews of Black LGBTQ+ Individuals in Milwaukee, WI for the House of History Project.

The House of History is a program of Diverse & Resilient. It was made possible with funding awarded by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities

Directors & Camera Operators: Betty Allen & Andy W. Sayers

Sound Mixer: Jacob Fatke

Gaffer & Grip: Tim Moder

Hair & Make-Up Artist: Alfred Lester

From the House of History MKE Website:

https://www.houseofhistorymke.org/stories/montell-infiniti-ross

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born March 23, 1977

I knew Montell back when I was performing heavily. He started off as a back-up dancer when I first met him. He was doing choreography work. He was always in somebody’s talent. I saw him go from the back of the line to the front of the line so quickly. He went from helping others winning pageants to him winning many titles and pageants himself. He’s always been a very good dancer and entertainer. And I'm still waiting on my talent package you promised to help me put together. I'm speaking it into existence.

Montell was born in Tennessee, raised in Racine, and moved to Milwaukee for college. That’s when he met Louis, Lance and Vincent, who he called the “Society Ladies” because they carried bags like purses and smoked Virginia Slims. They was the ones who started the House of Infiniti. Montell became a good role model and community leader in the House of Infiniti.

Montell speaks out a lot about racial justice. Especially to the LGBT community. He organized the big March with Pride for Black Lives in the summer of 2020. There were BLM protests going on and no PrideFest cuz of COVID and Montell brought them together. He’s a strong community advocate and educator. His job is a medical researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and he tries to find studies that will help us trans girls out. Montell loves to help the trans girls. He always looks for ways to put a little coin in a girl's pocket. He’s always been the type of person if he knew how to get some money, he didn’t have no problem sharing information.

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