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Harvey Milk Facts & Worksheets

Harvey Milk was an active civil and human rights advocate. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming one of the country's first openly gay elected officials.

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Harvey Milk was an active civil and human rights advocate. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming one of the country’s first openly gay elected officials.

See the fact file below for more information on Harvey Milk or you can download our 27-page Harvey Milk worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

BIOGRAPHY

  • Harvey Milk, whose full name is Harvey Bernard Milk, was a prominent gay rights activist and American politician. He was born on May 22, 1930, in Woodmere, Long Island, New York, and passed away on November 27, 1978, in San Francisco, California.
  • Harvey and his only sibling, Robert, worked at the family’s department store, “Milks.” His Lithuanian-born father, William, served in the U.S. Navy, and so did his spirited, independent mother, Minerva, also of Lithuanian heritage, who was a “Yeomanette” during World War I.
  • Harvey was born into a small middle-class Jewish family that founded a Jewish synagogue and was well-known in the New York “Litvaks” community for their civic involvement. He was aware of his sexual orientation when he entered Bayshore High School.
  • Milk reportedly realized he was gay at a young age and indulged his desires with illicit trysts by his early teens. He was fully aware of the necessity to cover up any traits that would cause suspicion, such as his passion for opera. 
  • He participated in basketball and football at Bayshore High School. His athleticism and quick wit made him popular among his peers and contributed to Milk’s cover.

EDUCATION AND CAREER

  • Milk enrolled at Albany’s New York State College for Teachers, where he became a member of the Jewish fraternity Kappa Beta and the school newspaper sports editor. 
  • He joined the Navy in 1951 after earning a mathematics degree, following his parents’ path.
  • He went to Newport, Rhode Island’s Officer Candidate School before moving to San Diego to work as a diving instructor. He was formally questioned about his sexual orientation in 1955 when he quit at the rank of lieutenant junior grade. He was discharged with an “other than honorable” discharge for having sexual relations with other enlisted.
  • After his Navy discharge, Milk worked as a public school teacher on Long Island, a stock analyst in New York City, and a production associate for Broadway musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair. During the 1960s and early 1970s, he became more involved in politics and advocacy, and he protested the Vietnam War.
  • He moved to San Francisco in 1972, where he opened a camera store and became known as a gay community leader.
  • Milk ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the city’s Board of Supervisors in 1973. After another unsuccessful bid in 1976, he was elected in 1977, becoming one of the United States‘ first openly gay elected officials.

POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS

  • In late 1972, Milk returned to San Francisco for good, opening a camera shop on Castro Street, the heart of the gay community. In 1973, he decided to run for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, partly motivated by what he saw as an unfair tax on small businesses.
  • Much of the city’s more influential gay electorate rejected Milk, believing the outspoken New Yorker should tone down his act and wait his turn. Nonetheless, he received 17,000 votes, finishing a respectable 10th out of 32 candidates, giving him reason to continue his political efforts. In 1974, Milk co-founded the Castro Village Association to unite gay business owners, and he organized the first Castro Street Fair.
  • Milk allied with the Teamsters Union, and the union reciprocated by promising to hire more gay drivers. Milk became known as the “Mayor of Castro Street” due to his charisma, energy, and natural political skills.
  • After failing in his subsequent attempt to be elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1975, Milk was offered a position on the Board of Permit Appeals in the administration of incoming Mayor George Moscone. But after declaring his candidacy for the California State Assembly, he was compelled to leave, resulting in another campaign loss.
  • Unbothered by his electoral defeats, Milk established the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club to gain more political clout. 
  • He also succeeded in getting the Board of Supervisors election changed from an at-large, citywide style to a district-based system.
  • When he entered politics again in 1977, he promised to change the tax law to encourage industry, provide affordable housing, and start daycare centers for working mothers to appeal to a broader demographic than just the LGBT community.
  • Milk became one of the first openly gay elected leaders in the nation that November in a historic election that also saw the first Chinese-American and the first African-American woman elected to the city’s Board of Supervisors.

REFORM

  • His political success is a significant and symbolic victory for the LGBT community, as well as a personal triumph for Milk.
  • His election drew national and international attention. Milk’s commitment to serving a broad constituency, not just LGBT people, contributed to his effectiveness and popularity as a supervisor.
  • His ambitious reform agenda included gay rights protection. As a supervisor, he also delved into more personal matters, spearheading a bill to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
  • He established daycare centers for working mothers, converted city military facilities to low-income housing, reformed the tax code to attract industry to abandoned warehouses and factories, and addressed other issues. He was a huge advocate for strong, safe neighborhoods and pressed the mayor’s administration to improve Castro services, such as library services and community policing. Furthermore, he spoke on state and national issues affecting LGBT people, women, racial and ethnic minorities, and other marginalized groups.

ASSASSINATION

  • On November 27, 1978, Dan White, a conservative former city supervisor, shot and killed Milk and the city’s mayor, George Moscone, in City Hall. White’s attorneys successfully argued during his murder trial that a long period of clinical depression had impaired his judgment.

LEGACY

  • Despite serving for less than a year, Milk’s time in the spotlight was a significant step forward in the fight for gay rights. Young LGBT people who were discouraged and isolated gained hope from Milk’s campaign for public office, a powerful inspiration to keep up the struggle for equality.
  • Harvey Milk’s life and career have been the subject of opera, books, and films. These include Shilts’ biography The Mayor of Castro Street (1982), Robert Epstein’s Oscar-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), and Gus Van Sant’s drama Milk (2008). The latter film received eight Academy Award nominations and won in two categories: best actor for Sean Penn’s performance in the title role and best screenplay for Dustin Lance Black.
  • The city of San Francisco has honored Milk by naming several streets after him. There are also public schools named after him. The San Francisco Gay Democratic Club renamed itself the Harvey Milk Memorial Gay Democratic Club in 1978

Harvey Milk Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Harvey Milk across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Harvey Milk, who was an active civil and human rights advocate. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming one of the country’s first openly gay elected officials.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Harvey Milk Facts 
  2. Political Applicant
  3. Milk approved or not
  4. Spill Milk
  5. Supervisor Harvey
  6. Support or Not?
  7. My Campaign
  8. Milk’s Name
  9. This is Milk
  10. Milk in Broadway
  11. Fight for equality

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Harvey Milk famous for?

Harvey Milk made history when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He was one of the first openly gay individuals to be voted into public office in California and across America.

What was Harvey Milk’s dream?

Boldly inspiring others to live freely, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay individual elected into a notable public office in America. With optimism and courage, he encouraged members of the LGBT+ community to rise for their rights with dignity. His firm belief was that only through visibility could true social justice be achieved.

What was Harvey Milk’s speech?

“We must have hope for a better world, the assurance of a brighter tomorrow, and relief from hardships here at home. Without this hope, not only will we give up – but so too will our fellow gays, blacks, seniors, handicapped individuals, and all those who consider themselves “us-es”. We can no longer be bystanders in these trying times; together let us strive to build an even more equitable future through collective action!”

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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