"Stonewall" is the emblematic event in modern lesbian and gay history.
The site of the series of riots in late June - early July 1969 that
resulted from a police raid on a Greenwich Village gay bar,
"Stonewall" has become synonymous over the years with gay resistance
to oppression.
1969 riots are now generally taken to mark the birth of the modern gay
and lesbian political movement - that moment in time when gays and
lesbians recognized all at once there mistreatment and their
solidarity.
On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich
Village, was raided. But instead of the routine compliance expected
by the police, patrons and a growing ground decided to fight back.
The five days of rioting that ensued changed forever the face of gay
and lesbian life.
Taken from Stonewall, by Martin Duberman.
There are many good books on the Stonewall Riots giving much more
detail to this historic event.