Search Results
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“We Were The Movement": Lesbian Activism in the Boston Reproductive Rights Movement, by Sara Slager
A 2023 essay by Sara Slager, a Boston-based researcher who graduated in May 2022 from Simmons University with a BA in Women's and Gender Studies and a double minor in History and Education. In May 2023, she will graduate with a Masters of Arts…
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Carroll Smith-Rosenberg and "The Female World of Love and Ritual," A 2021 Interview by Matthew Hauptman
An interview with the author of a groundbreaking 1975 essay on lesbian history.
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Blue-Collar Queers: An Introduction to Steel Closets, 2014, by Anne Balay
Anne Balay tells OutHistory about her book Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers, which is based on interviews with LGBT steelworkers in northwestern Indiana about their experiences of class, gender, and sexual identity…
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Arthur Kingsley Porter, 1883-1933, by Andrew Houchens
This exhibit addresses the homosexuality of Arthur Kingsley Porter, who chaired Harvard University's Art History Department. An earlier profile of Porter, authored by Jonathan Ned Katz, was published by OutHistory in 2021 and revised in 2024.…
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Angela Calomiris (1916-1995): A Spy in the Lesbian Herstory Archives, by Lisa E. Davis
An introduction to and overview of the story of Angela Calomiris, a working-class lesbian who was a key informant for the FBI in the 1940s against the Communist Party.
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An 18th Century Transsexual, 1788, by Clair Kronk
A brief introduction to an 18th century medical account of a trans person in a Paris hospital.
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Peter Sewally/Mary Jones, June 11, 1836, by Jonathan Ned Katz and Tavia Nyong'o
Two historians, Jonathan Ned Katz and Tavia Nyong’o, present and analyze the story and visual depiction of Peter Sewally/Mary Jones, a Black transgender person in New York City, in 1836. First published on OutHistory in 2017.
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Esther Eng (1914-1970): Filmmaker, Restaurateur, Gender Rebel, by Christianne A. Gadd
Esther Eng made a name for herself as the world's first female Chinese American filmmaker, a successful restaurateur, and—rejecting social expectations—a woman who felt little need to hide her romantic and sexual relationships with other women.…
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No Red-Baiting! No Race-Baiting! No Queen-Baiting! by Allan Bérubé
This is a 90-minute illustrated talk narrated by Allan Bérubé (1946-2007) on the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union. Introduced by historians John D'Emilio and Estelle Freedman, the talk tells the surprising and inspiring story of how ship stewards…
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Reed Erickson, Pioneering Transgender Activist and Philanthropist, 1917-1992, by Ada Bello
Reed Erickson used the wealth which his class privilege provided to support public education and activism about transgender lives and issues at a time when very little public attention was focused on the topic. Ada Bello, who wrote this account of…
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Researching Hoover’s War on Gays: Exposing the FBI’s “Sex Deviates” Program, by Douglas M. Charles
OutHistory is pleased to publish an original essay by historian Douglas M. Charles discussing the research for his 2015 book Hoover’s War on Gays: Exposing the FBI’s “Sex Deviates” Program (University Press of Kansas).
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TRANSforming Randy Wicker: A Documentary Film, 2015, by Michael Kasino, music by Moby
OutHistory presented the first public showing of a documentary film about long-time gay activist Randy Wicker. The 50 minute film, produced and directed by Michael Kasino, uses interviews, movies, and still photos to detail the life of this ornery,…
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Margaret Haig Thomas (1883-1958): Lusitania’s Queer Cargo, by Christianne Anastasia Gadd
In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Luisitania on May 7, 1915, OutHistory presented an original research report on one of its fascinating women passengers. First published on OutHistory on May 4, 2015.
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Dewey's Sit-in in Philadelphia, 1965, by Marc Stein
In 1965 Drum magazine called it “the first sit-in of its kind in the history of the United States.” To honor the fiftieth anniversary of this major act of LGBT resistance, Marc Stein presented reports of the sit-in at Dewey’s restaurant in Center…
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Larry Kramer's The American People, Vol. 1 (2015): Responses
Larry Kramer's The American People, Volume I, Search for My Heart, A Novel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015) is a fictional meditation on history, especially on gay and lesbian history. Kramer and other activists founded the AIDS Coalition to…
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Edna Thomas ("Mary Jones"): "A Tenderness I Have Never Known," 1937, by Jonathan Ned Katz
An introduction to the 1937 case history of “Mary Jones,” who scholars have identified as African American actress Edna Thomas. First published on OutHistory in 2015.
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Picturing African American Men with Men, 1918-1942, by John Ibson
A collection John Ibson's images of African American men with other men that appear in his 2002 book, Picturing Men: A Century of Male Relationships in Everyday American Photography. First published on OutHistory in 2015.
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Alice Mitchell Murders Freda Ward in Memphis, 1892
On January 25, 1892, on a riverfront railroad track, in Memphis, Tennessee, Alice Mitchell slit the throat of Freda Ward. Mitchell explained: "I killed Freda because I loved her, and she refused to marry me." The murder and subsequent trial…
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On Bullying: A Gay Teacher Remembers, 1959-2014, by Hunter O'Hara
A gay teacher, born in 1959, recalls the bullying he suffered as a child, and how he came through it.
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Allen Bernstein's Defense of Homosexuality: “Millions of Queers (Our Homo America),” 1940, by Jonathan Ned Katz and Randall Sell
Document and Biography of Author