36 & 37. The Life of Pauli Murray

For this two-part episode, Leigh is joined by return guest host, Aubree Calvin to do a deep dive into the story of Pauli Murray, an important African American lawyer, and activist who is finally getting the historical attention they deserve. In their time, Murray was a labor rights, civil rights, and women’s rights activist, and broke significant barriers all while facing sexism and racism. In addition to having a brilliant legal mind, they were a writer, poet, and priest, and had time to be friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. Pauli Murray should be in every U.S. History book in every K-12 school.

So, if Pauli Murray was so important to so many movements, why has history largely forgotten them? Leigh and Aubree try to answer that across two episodes — the first, looking at their upbringing, many careers, and accomplishments, then in part two, discussing their multfaceted queerness and try to get a handle, as best we can, on their gender identity.

• www.aubreecalvin.com

• Aubree Writes on Facebook

• @BreeinTX on Twitter

Aubree, or Bree to her friends and enemies alike, is a black, queer trans woman on the edge of turning 40. A southerner for most of her life, Aubree has family roots across the south. She loves studying politics, history, and learning about all aspects of queer culture. Aubree started her podcast, Southern Queeries, because she’s tired of society ignoring the south's diverse communities. Professionally, Aubree is a community college government professor and part time writer. When not talking, teaching, or writing, Aubree’s spending her free time with her wonderful wife and daughter.

We also got the opportunity to speak with amazing activist, lawyer, and reproductive justice advocate Preston Mitchum, previously Policy Director at URGE (Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity) and current Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs at The Trevor Project, on his own personal history coming to Pauli Murray’s story, how they influenced him as a Black queer man, and continues to inspire and influence current and future generations of queer civil rights attorneys all across the country.

Preston Mitchum is a Black and queer civil rights advocate, writer and public speaker who uses critical thinking and intersectionality in his writing and analyses. In his role as Policy Director at URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, he shaped state and federal strategies and policies that center the voices and leadership of young people in the South and Midwest. Prior to joining URGE, Preston served as senior legal and international policy analyst with Advocates for Youth. Preston is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center teaching LGBTQ Health Law and Policy, is the co-chair of the board of directors for the Collective Action for Safe Spaces and was also the first openly LGBTQ chair of the Washington Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.

Preston can be found online at:

• www.prestonmitchum.com

• @preston.mitchum on Instagram

• @prestonmitchum on Twitter

A Closer Look at Pauli Murray

Pauli presenting their family biography, Proud Shoes, presents the first edition of their book to Lloyd K. Garrison, former president of the National Urban League.

Pauli in Ghana, where they taught law briefly in the 1960s.

Pauli after earning their JSD from Yale in 1965.

Pauli with Betty Friedan and others who would be influential in founding NOW

A Little Glimpse into Pauli’s Gender Journey

“Why do I prefer experimentation on the male side, instead of attempted adjustment as a normal woman?”

Pauli’s various “identities” they tried out and modeled in a 1930s photo album they titled “The Life and Times of an American Called Pauli Murray”:

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"The Vagabond"

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"The Crusader"

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"The Imp"

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"The Dude"

Pauli in New Hampshire, Nov 1955. They sent this photo to Eleanor Roosevelt, describing it as “It’s my most natural self, I think”. Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

Some of Pauli’s Loves

Pauli’s longtime partner Irene “Renee” Barlow

Pauli with their girlfriend Peggy Holmes, who they met at the New Deal Women’s Camp. LOOK HOW CUTE THIS IS!

Pauli with their dog, Doc, at Benedict College, SC in 1967.

Pauli with another of their dogs, Roy, in 1976

Pauli with their BFF for life, Eleanor Roosevelt, in 1962 on a trip to Val-Kill Cottage, Hyde Park.

Pauli, The Reverend and Poet

Pauli in their Virginia apartment, 1977, after becoming a reverend.

Pauli’s portrait at Yale Law, unveiled in November 2018.

Listen to Pauli read the entirety of Dark Testament:

Pauli reading from their epic poem, “Dark Testament”

“Rediscovering Pauli Murray”, a panel discussion from 2017 at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, featuring panelists Patricia Bell-Scott, Brittney Cooper, Rosalind Rosenberg, and Kenneth W. Mack.

If you liked hearing our episode on Pauli, you might also you might also enjoy these Pop-Culture Tie-Ins:

• My Name is Pauli Murray (2021)

• Amend: The Fight for America, Episode 4: “Control” on Netflix

If you want to learn more about Pauli Murray, the 14th Amendment, and more, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

• Meet the Forgotten Woman Who Forever Changed The Lives of LGBTQ+ Workers

• Who is Pauli Murray? | The Pauli Murray Center 

• QSpirit: Pauli Murray - Queer saint who stood for racial and gender equality

• "The Many Lives of Pauli Murray" by Kathryn Schulz 

• The Pauli Murray Family Home | National Park Service 

• N.O.W. | Finding Pauli Murray: The Black Queer Feminist Civil Rights Lawyer Priest who co-founded NOW, but that History Nearly Forgot

• Imp, Crusader, Dude, Priest

• Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt’s Beloved Radical

Books and Print Articles:

• Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family by Pauli Murray

• Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage by Pauli Murray

• Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray by Rosalind Rosenberg

• Dark Testament: and Other Poems by Pauli Murray

• The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship by Patricia Bell-Scott

• “Poetry, Ethics, and the Legacy of Pauli Murray” by Christiana Z. Peppard in Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2010).

• “Boy-girl, Imp, Priest: Pauli Murray and the Limits of Identity” by Doreen M. Drury in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Spring 2013).

Films/Audio:

• Pauli Murray reads "Dark Testament"

• Sundance Doc Honors Civil Rights Pioneer Pauli Murray 

• RBG Wanted People To Know More About One of Her Legal Heroes | TIME

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

35. Claim to Flame: Edmonia "Wildfire" Lewis and her Harem Scarem

In this episode of History is Gay Leigh and guest host Amanda Helton discuss Mary Edmonia “Wildfire” Lewis, the first internationally recognized African American and indigenous artist in the United States. Join us while we ponder how exactly a literal 2-ton sculpture goes missing, discuss the merits of 1800s lesbian ndrama, and did you know that blister beetles have been used as aphrodisiacs for centuries? Yeah... neither did we….

Our wonderful returning guest host for this episode is our fantastic friend and Amanda Helton!

You can find more from Amanda on Instagram at @oryxbesia and at www.amandahelton.com!

Amanda Helton is a museum professional working in Silicon Valley, focusing on digital strategy and museum technology. She is originally from Sevier County, Tennessee (birthplace of Dolly Parton), and HAS MET HER a few times! Amanda holds a Masters Degree in Art History (with a concentration in Museum Training) from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is passionate about connecting the history of art and technology to the present day. Amanda is a sunscreen evangelist, friend to every dog, and co-runs a Xena re-watch group with Leigh!

You can also hear Amanda in our episode on Michelangelo!

A Closer Look at Edmonia Lewis and the White Marmorean Flock

Portraits of Edmonia

Perhaps the most well-known Edmonia portrait, by Henry Rocher, c 1870

Some of Edmonia Lewis’ most prolific works:

Edmonia Lewis, The Death of Cleopatra, carved 1876, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Historical Society of Forest Park, Illinois, 1994.17

The Death of Cleopatra detail. Notice the somewhat anguished look on the subject’s face, and the tension in the body at the moment of death depicted.

"Forever Free," Edmonia Lewis, marble, 1867. The Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, leader of the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Edmonia sold 100 plaster copies of this bust during a Soldier’s Relief Fair in Boston, which financed her move to Italy.

In 1870, Dr. Harriot K. Hunt, Boston’s first woman physician, commissioned Edmonia to create a statue of Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health and hygiene, to be erected on her family lot in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

She carved the above sculpture for her patron, Anna Quincy Waterston, in 1866, who was one of the first patrons to help raise funds for Edmonia to sculpt in Rome. Waterston wrote a poem after Edmonia in 1864, describing her skill:

Tis fitting that a daughter of the race
Whose chains are breaking should receive a gift
So rare as genius. Neither power nor place,
Fashion or wealth, pride, custom, caste nor hue
Can arrogantly claim what God doth lift
Above these chances, and bestows on few.

Edmonia Lewis, Old Arrow Maker, modeled 1866, carved 1872, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins, 1983.95.179

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha was extremely popular during this time, and so here you can see Lewis’ depiction of the two main characters, Hiawatha and Minnehaha.

Later in life, once slavery was abolished in the United States, Edmonia turned much of her sculpture to religious subjects, appealing to Roman Catholic patrons in Italy. Guess who made a horny Moses after Michelangelo’s iconic sculpture. SO. GAY.

Legacy

For many years after her death, Edmonia Lewis’ life and work sunk into relative obscurity, but in recent years, since the 1980s, she has been brought back into the limelight, due to research from some dedicated scholars such as Marilyn Richardson, who had found Lewis’ unmarked gravesite:

And below, is what the gravesite looks like now, cleaned up and bestowed with a proper plaque, thanks to a 2017 GoFundMe campaign.

In February 2017 for Black History Month, Google even included her as a Google Doodle on the first day of the month!

The White Marmorean Flock, with whom Edmonia Flew!

First up, Charlotte Cushman, aka the Natalie Clifford Barney of 1800s Rome:

Charlotte Cushman, portrait by William Page 1853

Charlotte Cushman as Romeo, one of her most popular “breeches” roles— reviewers said she was more adept at playing a man onstage than she was playing a woman in real life.

Charlotte Cushman and flame, Matilda Hays, who would go on to have an affair with Harriet Hosmer!

And here we have Charlotte with yet another flame, another sculptor of the flock, Emma Stebbins (who she uh….cheated on Matilda Hays with so…whoops).

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, butch queen of our hearts:

Look at this dapper motherfucker! Engraving of Harriet Hosmer by Augustus Robin (1873)

This is a Look we are here for.

If you want to learn more about Edmonia Lewis and the other folks covered in this episode, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

• The Unlikely Success of Edmonia Lewis, a Black Sculptor in 19th-Century America

• A history of African-American artists : from 1792 to the present : Bearden, Romare, 1911-1988 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming

• Edmonia Lewis

• Lewis, (Mary) Edmonia | Grove Art

• How Edmonia Lewis Became an Artist

• http://www.florin.ms/CBVa.html#richardson

• https://edmonialewis.com/blog.htm#McGraw

• Sculptor's Death Date Unearthed: Edmonia Lewis Died in London in 1907

• Insuperable Obstacles: The Impact of Racism on the Creative and Personal ... - Naurice Frank Woods (Jr.)

• Free within ourselves : African-American artists in the collection of the National Museum of American Art : Perry, Regenia : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming

• The Color of Stone: Sculpting the Black Female Subject in Nineteenth-century ... - Charmaine Nelson, Nima Naghibi

• Smithsonian American Art Museum: The Death of Cleopatra

• Overlooked No More: Edmonia Lewis, Sculptor of Worldwide Acclaim (Published 2018)

• Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People

• The art of history : African American women artists engage the past

• The Decades-Long Quest to Find and Honor Edmonia Lewis's Grave

• The Life and Death of Edmonia Lewis

• Sculptor's Death Date Unearthed: Edmonia Lewis Died in London in 1907

• Edmonia Lewis: A bit about her life and a bit about her drawings (or lack thereof)

• Cult of True Womanhood | Ken Burns | Not For Ourselves Alone | Ken Burns

• Lesbian Sculptors as Expat Abolitionists

• This Actress Had a Forbidden Lesbian Affair in 1844

• LGBT History: Charlotte Cushman’s passions on stage and off

• Charlotte Cushman and Her “Marmorean Flock”

• “The White Marmorean Flock”: 19th Century Lady Sculptors in Rome

Books and Print Articles:

• Buick, Kirsten. Child of the Fire: Mary Edmonia Lewis and the Problem of Art History’s Black and Indian Subject

• Nelson, Charmaine A. The Color of Stone: Sculpting the Black Female Subject in Nineteenth-Century America. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.

• "Black Lesbian Bibliography." Off Our Backs 9, no. 6 (1979): 25.

• GOLD, SUSANNA W. "THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA /THE BIRTH OF FREEDOM: EDMONIA LEWIS AT THE NEW WORLD'S FAIR." Biography 35, no. 2 (2012): 318-41.

• A History of African American Artists: From 1792 to the Present

• Bost, Suzanne. "Fluidity without Postmodernism: Michelle Cliff and the "Tragic Mulatta" Tradition." African American Review 32, no. 4 (1998): 673-89.

• Buick, Kirsten P. "The Ideal Works of Edmonia Lewis: Invoking and Inverting Autobiography." American Art 9, no. 2 (1995): 5-19.

• Blodgett, Geoffrey. "John Mercer Langston and the Case of Edmonia Lewis: Oberlin, 1862." The Journal of Negro History 53, no. 3 (1968): 201-18. Accessed December 15, 2020.

• Darcy, Cornelius P. "Edmonia Lewis Arrives in Rome." Negro History Bulletin 40, no. 2 (1977): 688-89. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44176717.

• Holland, Juanita Marie. "Mary Edmonia Lewis's "Minnehaha": Gender, Race, and the "Indian Maid"." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 69, no. 1/2 (1995): 26-35. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41504904.

• "Lost and Found: The Strange Case of the Resurrection of Edmonia Lewis' "The Death of Cleopatra"." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 13 (1996): 32-33. Accessed December 15, 2020. doi:10.2307/2963152.

• Buick, Kirsten Pai. "A QUESTION OF "LIKENESS": EDMONIA LEWIS'S "THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA"." Source: Notes in the History of Art 24, no. 4 (2005): 3-12. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23207945.

• Woods, Naurice Frank. "An African Queen at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition 1876: Edmonia Lewis's "The Death of Cleopatra"." Meridians 9, no. 1 (2009): 62-82. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338768.

• Harrison, Bonnie Claudia. "Diasporadas: Black Women and the Fine Art of Activism." Meridians 2, no. 2 (2002): 163-84. Accessed December 15, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40338514.

• Tolles, Thayer. "American Women Sculptors". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/scul/hd_scul.htm (August 2010)

• Conner, Janis, and Joel Rosenkranz. Rediscoveries in American Sculpture: Studio Works, 1893–1939. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1989.

• Hill, May Brawley. The Woman Sculptor: Malvina Hoffman and Her Contemporaries. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, 1984.

• Rubinstein, Charlotte Streifer. American Women Sculptors: A History of Women Working in Three Dimensions. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1990.

• Tolles, Thayer, ed. American Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2 vols. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999–2001.

• Thorp, Margaret Farrand. “The White, Marmorean Flock.” The New England Quarterly.

  Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1959), pp. 147-169

• Romare Bearden & Henderson, Harry. "A History of African-American Artists (From 1792 to the Present)", Pantheon Books (Random House), 1993. ISBN 0-394-57016-2, 704.0396 B368h 1993
  

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

34. Queers in the Civil Rights Movement

For today’s episode, Leigh is joined by return guest host, Aubree Calvin, to commemorate Black History Month by telling the stories of some folks who made contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s whose queerness has been overlooked or erased, and the ways in which the tremendous work done by Black activists was absolutely essential to the evolution of LGBTQ rights actions. Listen to hear about Freedom Rides organizer Rodney Powell’s epic takedown of Rev. Rick Warren, Ernestine Eckstein’s directions for the homophile movement, and Lorraine Hansberry’s thoughts on Eartha Kitt’s legs.

Our wonderful returning guest host for this episode is our fantastic friend and co-host of Southern Queeries Podcast, Aubree Calvin!

• www.aubreecalvin.com

• Aubree Writes on Facebook

• @BreeinTX on Twitter

Aubree, or Bree to her friends and enemies alike, is a black, queer trans woman on the edge of turning 40. A southerner for most of her life, Aubree has family roots across the south. She loves studying politics, history, and learning about all aspects of queer culture. Aubree started her podcast, Southern Queeries, because she’s tired of society ignoring the south's diverse communities. Professionally, Aubree is a community college government professor and part time writer. When not talking, teaching, or writing, Aubree’s spending her free time with her wonderful wife and daughter.

You can also hear Aubree in our episode on Sister Rosetta Tharpe!

A Closer Look at Queer Folks in the Civil Rights Movement…

Rodney Powell

Rodney Powell’s school photo at St. Joseph’s University

Rodney Powell with his husband, Bob Eddinger, in hawaii

Rodney (standing) at the lunch counter of a Nashville Walgreens in March 1960.

Ernestine Eckstein

Ernestine Eckstein on the cover of the June 1966 edition of The Ladder. Credit: Photo by Kay Lahusen, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Ernestine Eckstein in the White House picket line, October 23, 1965. Her sign reads: “Denial of Equality of Opportunity is Immoral.” Photo by Kay Lahusen, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Ernestine’s class photo at Indiana University, showing her given name.

Ernestine with the Indiana Daily Student newspaper staff at Indiana University

Aaron Henry

Aaron Henry at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, reading from a document while seated before the Credentials Committee.

Brochure from Henry’s 1971 campaign for the Mississippi State Legislature.

Aaron Henry, circa 1980s. Photo from the Erle E. Johnston Jr. Papers, McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi.

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry at her typewriter

Lorraine’s list from age 28 of things in her “Notes on Myself” entries. Check out Dorothy Secules’ name under the “I want”. Image courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the New York Public Library

Lorraine Hansberry with Nina Simone

Below, a video of Nina Simone performing “To Be Young, Gifted and Black”, which was inspired by and written about Lorraine Hansberry.

If you want to learn more about the folks we covered in this episode, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

• Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust

• Freedom Indivisible: Gays and Lesbians in the African American Civil Rights Movement by Jared E. Leighton, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• “Rodney Powell: A Second Fight for Equal Rights” by Jaquetta White

• “A Letter from Rodney Powell, Gay Man Who Helped Lead the Freedom Rides”

• The Civil Rights Collection of the Nashville Public Library

• Across Decades, Rodney Powell ‘57 Fought for Change

• Aaron Henry, Who Speaks for the Negro? Archival Collection

• ”The History Behind Why We Say a Person ‘Came Out of the Closet’” by Olivia B. Waxman

• ”What is the Origin of the Phrase ‘Come Out of the Closet’?” by Arika Okrent

• ”The Double Life of Lorraine Hansberry” (OUT Magazine, September 1999)

• The Quiet Lesbian Biography of Lorraine Hansberry

• ”Lorraine Hansberry’s Gay Politics” by Kai Wright

• “Lorraine Hansberry’s Secret Lesbian Herstory Touched Upon in New Documentary” by Shervin Kayvon

• Lorraine Hansberry: Letters to The Ladder - Illinois History & Lincoln Collections

• “Lorraine Hansberry’s Letters Reveal the Playwright’s Private Struggle” by Melissa Anderson

• “Opening the Restricted Box: Lorraine Hansberry’s Lesbian Writing” by Kevin Mumford

• Wikipedia: Rodney N. Powell

• Wikipedia: Ernestine Eckstein

• “The Importance of Being Ernestine Eckstein, Pioneer in the Early Gay Rights Movement” by Lester Fabian Brathwaite

• “Gay Liberation Needed the Civil Rights Movement” by Michelle Garcia

• Making Gay History: Ernestine Eckstein

Books and Print Articles:

• Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Dr. Imani Perry

• Aaron Henry: The Fire Ever Burning by Aaron Henry, Constance Curry

• Gavins, R. (2016). March on Washington Movement (MOWM). In The Cambridge Guide to African American History (p. 178). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Corrigan, L. (2019). Queering the Panthers: Rhetorical Adjacency and Black/Queer Liberation Politics. In QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking . Vol. 6, Number 2, Summer 2009.

• The Ladder: A Lesbian Review, June 1966 issue

Films/Videos:

• An Open Letter to Pastor Warren by Dr. Rodney Powell

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

33. Besotted with Beefcake: A MichelangelHO Story

In this episode of History is Gay Leigh and guest host Amanda Helton discuss Michelangelo Buonarroti. THE Michelangelo. And we'll get into all the juicy deets you didn't learn in art history class, full of stories of broken noses, the gay art of forgery, big ol’ artist egos, and attempts to answer the question, “what even is a titty”?

But first, let me introduce to you our guest host for this episode, Amanda Helton!

Amanda Helton is a fine arts professional working in Silicon Valley, focusing on digital strategy and museum technology. She is originally from Sevier County, Tennessee (birthplace of Dolly Parton), and HAS MET HER a few times! Amanda holds a Masters Degree in Art History (with a concentration in Museum Training) from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is passionate about connecting the history of art and technology to the present day. Amanda is a sunscreen evangelist, friend to every dog, and co-runs a Xena re-watch group with Leigh! 

You can find more from Amanda on Instagram at @oryxbesia and at www.amandahelton.com!

A Closer Look at Michelangelo…

First, a little bit of background on what art in this period was like! Although the ancient Greeks and the Romans understood how to create an image with convincing depth, frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor clearly show the use of perspectival systems; during the middle ages, art changed to reflect the church. No longer were artists pursuing realism.

Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, ca. 50–40 B.C., Fresco, (Boscoreale, Italy)

Brunelleschi observed that parallel lines appear to converge at a single point in the distance with a single fixed point of view and discovered a method for calculating depth used by painters, sculptors, and architects alike to lend greater realism to their work. One of the first paintings during the Renaissance to fully implement perspective is Holy Trinity by Masaccio. Here, you can see the impression of a false room has been created on a flat wall. The coffers on the ceiling make the orthogonal lines, and the vanishing point is at the base of the cross, which happens to be at the viewer's eye level. This creates the illusion that the space the viewer is looking at is a physical continuation of the space in which they are standing.

Masaccio, Holy Trinity, c. 1427, Fresco, 667 x 317 cm, (Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy)

Here’s some other art we discussed in the episode:

Cardinal Riario commissioned a statue of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine and celebrations. However, the Cardinal didn't like it because Bacchus looked too drunk, LOL, and refused to pay for the work.

Michelangelo, Bacchus. Museo del Bargello, Florence, Italy. 

The David commission was started by two other sculptors who failed and left the marble in an almost unusable condition. In 1501, when Michelangelo took the job, it was impossible to portray David with Goliath's head at his feet (as was traditional) because of the marble's damage. So, he depicted David in the moments before the battle instead. He worked on this project for three years, and it was an incredible success.

Michelangelo, David, 1501-1504, (Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia)

Michelangelo, Moses, 1505-1545, Tomb for Julius II, ( San Pietro in Vincoli (Rome)

Michelangelo’s Moses has horns due to a longstanding tradition of antisemitism in which Jewish people were portrayed as “horned devils administering to Satan.”

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings abound with moments that make you go, WTF is happening here? They attest certainly at least to his awareness of various sexualities. In Last Judgment, on the wall behind the altar and to the left of Christ, are the damned destined for Hell. Among them are two pairs of nearly nude and quite muscular fellows in a lip-locking embrace in addition to an older bearded man staring longingly into the eyes of a younger man.

Michelangelo, Last Judgment, 1534-1541, Sistine Chapel, altar wall, fresco, (Vatican City, Rome)

The poet Pietro Aretino accused Michelangelo of “desecrating the Sistine Chapel by turning it into a whorehouse with his naked figures.”

Detail from Last Judgment

Detail from Last Judgment

Detail from The Last Judgment. Don’t piss off Michelangelo or he might make a snake bite your penis in the underworld and give you donkey ears

If you’d like to see what The Last Judgment looked like prior to Danny the Panty Painter’s censoring, you can check out a copy of it done by Marcello Venusti, one of Michelangelo’s apprentices. This is the best approximation of what the fresco looked like before the addition of loincloths and underwear throughout the following years from its completion.

Pietá, C. 1498-1499, Marble, michelangelo

In the Florentine Pietá sculpture he made later in life, he included a self-portrait representing himself as a Nicodemist. The Nicodemists, active in Italy in the 1540s and early 1550s, showed interest in some of the Protestant reformers' ideas but sought to act within the existing Catholic order, thus preventing schism in the Church. This self-portrayal reinforces existing evidence of Michelangelo's involvement with the Catholic Evangelist Reform movement in Italy.

The Deposition (also called the Florentine Pietá, Bandini Pietà or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ), c. 1547–1555, marble, left unfinished and partially destroyed by Michelangelo, restored by Tiberio Calgagni, (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence)

Detail of The Deposition

In the Renaissance, androgyny was ideal for men and women. Mario Equicola, a Renaissance humanist, wrote in 1525 that ‘the effeminate male and the manly female are graceful in almost every aspect’ – a view commonly held by his peers. There are many examples of iconic androgynous figures in Renaissance art. Take Donatello’s David, who stands leaning, leg forward, with a hand on his hip and a soft, round little belly. Michelangelo’s intense and hyper-idealized androgyny in his Sistine Chapel frescoes may be a reason why his peers found the work so influential.

Donatello, the bronze David, ca 1440, (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, Italy)

Marble tomb of Giuliano de' Medici by Michelangelo, 1520–34; in the Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo, Florence.

What even is a titty?

Michelangelo’s presentation drawings for Tommaso Cavalieri:

The Punishment of Tityus, Presentation Drawing by Michelangelo

In the myth, the giant Tityus was punished for attempting to rape Lato, Apollo and Diana's mother, by being chained to a rock in Hades. Every day a vulture would rip out his liver, the seat of lust; every night, the liver would grow back, for the torment to be repeated the next day, for all eternity. The drawing could be interpreted as a representation of pining and a love that will never be realized. Since the liver is continuously pecked out only to grow back again for all of eternity and the liver is often referred to as the "seat of the passions," the scene could refer to Michelangelo's unrequited love for Cavalieri.

The Rape of Ganymede, Presentation Drawing by Michelangelo

Ganymede was a cupbearer for Zeus. Zeus fell into such lust for the young cupbearer that he took on the form of an eagle to sweep Ganymede off to Mount Olympus to be with him. Ganymede could represent the young Cavalieri, and the eagle could represent the mature and overpowering Michelangelo, making it a visual representation of Michelangelo's physical desire for Cavalieri.

Many scholars suggest that the figures in Michelangelo’s Victory statue in the tomb of Julius II are modeled on Cavalieri (the standing figure) and Michelangelo (kneeling). It’s hard to miss this statue's obviously erotic elements, depicting Michelangelo between Cavalieri’s legs.

The Genius of Victory (1532–1534), marble, (Palazzo Vecchio, Florence)

If you want to learn more about Michelangelo, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• To Tommaso De' Cavalieri. Love The Light-Giver.

• Androgyny in Renaissance Art 

• Britannica: Michelangelo

• Michelangelo’s Dream (Artwork for Cavalieri)

• Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 A.D

• Why Michelangelo’s ‘David’ Is an Icon of the Italian Renaissance

• GLBTQ Archive: European Art: Renaissance

• GLBTQ Archive: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

• Boscoreale: Frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor

• Letter of Aretino to Michelangelo on the Last Judgement

• Let`s figure it out: could it be that Michelangelo did the Sistine Chapel completely on his own? Were there any helpers?
  

Books and Print Articles:

• Forever Young: A Cultural History of Longevity

• Francese, Joseph. "On Homoerotic Tension in Michelangelo's Poetry." MLN 117, no. 1 (2002): 17-47. 

• The Sonnets of Michelangelo, 1904 Edition

• Shrimplin, Valerie. "Hell in Michelangelo's "Last Judgment"." Artibus Et Historiae 15, no. 30 (1994): 83-107. 

• Renaissance Humanism, from the Middle Ages to Modern Times by John Monfasani

• Summers, Claude J. "Homosexuality and Renaissance Literature, or the Anxieties of Anachronism." South Central Review 9, no. 1 (1992): 2-23. Accessed November 21, 2020. doi:10.2307/3189384.

• Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy 

• Baskins, Cristelle L. "GENDER TROUBLE IN ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART HISTORY: TWO CASE STUDIES." Studies in Iconography 16 (1994): 1-36. Accessed November 21, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23924090.

• Schwarz, Arturo. "Alchemy, Androgyny and Visual Artists." Leonardo 13, no. 1 (1980): 57-62. Accessed November 21, 2020. doi:10.2307/1577928.

• Friedrichsmeyer, Sara. "The Subversive Androgyne." Women in German Yearbook 3 (1987): 63-75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688686.

• Eckstein, Bob. The History of the Snowman. United Kingdom: Gallery Books, 2007.

• Trollope, T. Adolphus. "Michelangelo and the Buonnarroti Archives." The North American Review 125, no. 259 (1877): 499-516. 

• Parker, Deborah. "The Role of Letters in Biographies of Michelangelo." Renaissance Quarterly 58, no. 1 (2005): 91-126. 

• Love Sonnets and Madrigals to Tommaso De'Cavalieri by Michelangelo Buonarroti

• Public Domain Poems  by Michelangelo

• The Passions of Michelangelo - Rictor Norton

• Barolsky, Paul. "MICHELANGELO'S EROTIC INVESTMENT." Source: Notes in the History of Art 11, no. 2 (1992): 32-34. Accessed November 21, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23203048.

• Michelangelo and the Label "Homosexual"- Rictor Norton

• Goldberg, Jonathan. Queering the Renaissance 

• Smithers, Tamara. 2016. Michelangelo in the New Millennium: Conversations about Artistic Practice, Patronage and Christianity. Boston: Brill. p. vii. ISBN 978-90-04-31362-0.

• Gayford, Martin (2013). Michelangelo: His Epic Life. London: Penguin UK. ISBN 978-1905490547.

• Chris Ryan, The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Introduction, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 97–99.

• Vittoria Colonna. Sonnets for Michelangelo. Ed. Abigail Brundin. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2005.

• Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo

• J. de Tolnay, The Youth of Michelangelo, p.11

• Gardner’s Art Through the Ages

• Italian Renaissance Art, Laurie Schneider Adams

• Alberti’s Perspective: A New Discovery and a New Evaluation, Samuel Y. Edgerton Jr.

• The life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, based on studies in the archives of the Buonarroti family at Florence by Symonds, John Addington, 1840-1893, 

• Bertman, Stephen. "The Antisemitic Origin of Michelangelo's Horned Moses." Shofar 27, no. 4 (2009): 95-106. Accessed October 18, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42944790.

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

32. Stealing Horses & Hearts: Trans Vagabonds of the Wild West

In this episode of History is Gay, Leigh and guest host Ashten Hope slap on some cowboy boots and head to the wild west to tip our hats to a slew of badass transgender pioneers. We’ll first meet Harry Allen, a handsome horse-stealing and heart-stealing trans man who was both loved and hated by papers and police across the pacific northwest. Then we’ll dance with the dazzling and talented Mrs. Nash, who’s baking and sewing charmed many a soldier boy. Lastly, prepare to be lassoed by the legendary Charley Parkhurst who was known as one of the best “whips” in all the west. Grab your horse and your headphones and get ready to ride into the fantastic lives of these frontier queers.

But first, let me introduce to you our new friend and guest host for this rootin’ tootin’ episode, Ashten Hope!

Ashten is a teacher in Texas, an avid birder, and runs a cryptid club! They also like to hike with their dog and read comics.

You can find more from Ashten on twitter at @AshtenHope!

A Closer Look at Our Trans Vagabonds of the Wild West

Harry Allen/Harry Livingston (aka Nell Pickerell)

Really, this is just going to be a slew of photos from the IMMENSE pile of newspaper articles we found on him. And when we say pile….

This isn’t even all of them!!!

Harry Allen was a frequent figure in the papers, with scandalous headlines especially focused around his many dramatic relationships. 1908.

Allen was known for his fashion. Truly an icon. We, too, would wear cowboy outfits great deal if we had them, Harry.

Honestly….we’ve seen worse headlines written about trans people in 2020 so….

Harry Allen: a scoundrel of the worst kind! Wearing the WRONG CLOTHES!

And finally, a joke that didn’t make it into the edit of the episode because it just works better visually, behold:

Who wore it better? Harry Allen, the original Florida Man. From Seattle.

Mrs. Nash

The only depiction there is of Mrs. Nash, from New York’s National Police Gazette, February 15, 1879

Charley Parkhurst

Illustration of Charley, showcasing the reason for his “One-Eyed Charley” nickname.

Charley with journalist J. Ross Browne, in an illustration from the 1865 edition of Harper’s Monthly

Charley Parkhurst’s tombstone in Watsonville, CA

The plaque on the Soquel fire station wall that marks and commemorates Charley/Charlie’s voting registration.

If you want to learn more about our wild west trans heroes, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Knute Berger. “Meet Nell Pickerell, transgender at-risk youth of yesteryear”. Crosscut, June 29, 2014.

• “Those Daring Stage Drivers”. CA Department of Parks and Recreation, 2008.

• A Note on the Historical Accuracy of the Jocker

• Janna Bommersbach. “Homos on the Range: How Gay Was the Wild West?”. True West Magazine, November 1, 2005.

• Sabrina Imbler. "The Forgotten Trans History of the Wild West". Atlas Obscura, June 21, 2019

• Livia Gershon. "The Forgotten Gender Nonconformists of the Old West". JStor Daily, April 27, 2018.

• Curt Eriksmoen. “Two tales of transgender behavior in 1800s Dakotas”. Inforum, October 15, 2016.

• “The Mysterious Mrs. Nash”. Midwestern Scout, April 20, 2016.

• An Essay from 19th Century U.S. Newspapers Database: Newspapers and the Press

• The History of Print from 1850-1899

• David Ng. “‘Out West’ at the Autry examines the history of homosexuals and transgender people in the Old West”. Los Angeles Times, Dec 15, 2009.

• Metroactive Features: Charley Parkhurst

Books and Print Articles:

• Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past by Peter Boag

• Margaret Walsh. “Women’s Place on the American Frontier”. Journal of American Studies, Vol. 29, No 2. August 1995

• Peter Boag. “Go West Young Man, Go East Young Woman: Searching for the Trans in Western Gender History” in Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 5 (Winter 2005).

• Peter Boag. “The Trouble with Cross-Dressers: Researching and Writing the History of Sexual and Gender Transgressiveness in the Nineteenth-Century American West”, Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 112, No 3. (Fall 2011)

• Elizabeth Reis. “Transgender History at a Crossroads: A Close Reading of a ‘Queer’ Story from 1857”. Early American Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Fall 2014).

Newspaper Articles (where publicly available online, we have provided links!):

• “Thirty Years in Disguise: A Noted Old Californian Stage Driver is Discovered, After Death, To Be a Woman”. New York Times, January 9, 1880. Online.

• “A Woman By Nature – A Man By Choice”. Philadelphia Times, May 6, 1900: 18. Online.

• “Goes By the Name of Harry” Seattle Daily Times, Oct 12, 1901: 5.

• “Dolly Quappe’s Suicide. Loved a Masquerading Girl”. Los Angeles Times, Dec 26, 1901. Online.

• “Nell Pickerell in Court: Her Trial for Throwing a Spitoon at a Saloon Man is Continued”. Seattle Daily Times, Aug 4, 1902: 14.

• “Girl Tries to End Her Life: Pearl Waldron Falls in Love with Notorious Nell Pickerell.”. Seattle Daily Times, Nov 4, 1903: 3.

• “Nell Sees It All”. Seattle Daily Times, Jun 28, 1904: 3.

• “Nell Pickerell Again.”. Seattle Daily Times, Jul 10, 1904: 7.

• “Nell Pickerell Wanted on a Serious Charge”. Seattle Daily Times, Jan 23, 1906: 17.

• “Nell Pickerell Did Not Register: Girl Who Affects Man’s Attire Made No Effort to Be Recorded as a Voter”. Seattle Daily Times, Jan 28, 1906: 2.

• “Woman Declines to Act as Stool Pigeon” Seattle Daily Times, Mar 31, 1906: 7.

• The Notorious Nell Pickerell in Town”. The Ellensburgh Capital, Feb 13, 1907. Online.

• “Nell Pickerell in the Toils Again” Seattle Daily Times, Mar 23, 1907: 2.

• “Deadly Love Trap of the Youth Who is a Girl”, The Seattle Sunday Times, Jan 12, 1908.

• “Strange Story of a Seattle Girl”, San Diego Union and Daily Bee, Mar 22, 1908.

• “Nell Pickerell Tended Bar in Montana Town”. Seattle Daily Times, Apr 27, 1908

• “How Catherine Madden Fell a Victim to Strong Drink; Why Nell Pickerell Will Not Wear Women’s Clothing”. The Spokesman Review, Oct 22, 1911: 24. Online.

• “Nell Pickerell Returning to Jail”. The Spokesman Review, Nov 15, 1911: 5. Online.

• “Nell Pickerell Denies Her Sex; Woman Who Dresses in Male Attire Starts Story She Is a ‘Real Man’; Rumor Causes Sensation”. The Spokesman Review, Nov 22, 1911: 6. Online.

• “Fighter, Bootlegger and ‘Bad Man’ is Miss Pickerell For Love of Whom Three Women Have Killed Themselves”. Tacoma Times, April 12, 1912. Online.

• “Woman Jailed”. Seattle Daily Times, Apr 22, 1912: 19.

• “Trousered Woman Bites Policeman”. Seattle Daily Times, July 22, 1915: 2.

• “Woman is Freed”. Seattle Daily Times, Aug 19, 1915: 11.

• “Nell Pickerell Stabbed”. Seattle Daily Times, Sept 27, 1916: 5.

• “Nell Pickerell May Die of Wounds”. Seattle Star, Sept 27, 1916. Online.

• “Nell Pickerell Asks $50 Pay for Services”. Seattle Daily Times, Jul 1, 1917: 19.

• “Nell Pickerell is Dead: Masqueraded as Man, Attracting Attention Here.” Seattle Daily Times, Dec 22, 1922: 11.

• “Nell Pickerell Dead". Seattle Star, Dec 28, 1922. Online.

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

31. The Gaymother of Rock n' Roll, O.G. Electric Lady: Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Holy crap, y’all! It’s already AUGUST. Somehow this year has simultaneously lasted forever and also gone by way too quickly. We’re back in your podcatchers today with a new episode, this time introducing you all to the Godmother (or Gaymother) of Rock n’ Roll, the original stadium rockstar, and badass Black woman guitar virtuoso, Sister Rosetta Tharpe! Think Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry invented rock n’ roll? Think again! Sister Rosetta was shredding on guitar way before them, and it’s time she gets the credit she is due. She broke boundaries wherever she went, straddling the line between worldly and chaste, secular and gospel, and loved both men and women.

But first, let me introduce to you our friend and fantastic guest host for this episode, Aubree Calvin!

You can also find more from Aubree online below:

• www.aubreecalvin.com

• Aubree Writes on Facebook

• @BreeinTX on Twitter

Aubree, or Bree to her friends and enemies alike, is a black, queer trans woman on the edge of turning 40. A southerner for most of her life, Aubree has family roots across the south. She loves studying politics, history, and learning about all aspects of queer culture. Aubree started her podcast, Southern Queeries, because she’s tired of society ignoring the south's diverse communities. Professionally, Aubree is a community college government professor and part time writer. When not talking, teaching, or writing, Aubree’s spending her free time with her wonderful wife and daughter.

Aubree and Leigh met through the Friends of Nancy facebook group (RIP Nancy Podcast), and we’re excited to have her join us for this episode and more!

You can hear more from Aubree on her brand new podcast with co-host India Bastien, Southern Queeries, all about LGBTQ life in the south! The first episodes just dropped, and are fantastic!

A Closer Look at Sister Rosetta Tharpe

publicity photo of Sister Rosetta in 1938 shortly after she had been signed to decca records, photo by james j. kriegsmann

Rosetta and marie, photographed together as a duo

Rosetta and Marie Knight signing autographs in st. louis after a show, 1947.

You could (and still can) actually purchase a record of the entire wedding ceremony/concert!

Please be delighted with us to listen to a portion of the wedding ceremony, where you can hear the absolute showmanship and pageantry! The preacher even continually pokes fun at the idea of Rosetta “obeying” Russell!

A selection of Rosetta’s music and performances:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe in an excerpt from the 1964 Granada television production of the Blues and gospel train. Filmed in the then disused Chorlton railway st...

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head (I hear music in the air) unknown performance date (appox. around the 1960's) on the show TV Gospel Time with the Ol...

Finally, in 2018, Rosetta was inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. This video has some fantastic footage and info! Check it out:

If you want to learn more about Sister Rosetta Tharpe, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Film:

• The Godmother of Rock & Roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, by Mick Csaky, 2014. You can watch it in entirety below on Vimeo:

Online Articles:

• “The Most Elaborate Wedding Ever Staged: Sister Rosetta Tharpe at Griffith Stadium”

• Marie Knight Dies at 84: gospel vocalist sang with Sister Rosetta Tharpe

• Her Gospel Truth

Books and Print Articles:

• Shout, Sister, Shout!: the Untold Story of Rock and Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe by Gayle Wald

• Singing in my soul black gospel music in a secular age, Jackson, Jerma A. author, 2004 “Chapter 4: With Her Spirituals in Swing Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Gospel, and Popular Culture

• The Fan Who Knew To Much: Aretha Franklin, The Rise of the Soap Opera, Children of the Gospel Church and Other Meditations by Anthony Heilbut

• Pentecostals in America “Chapter 3:Gender, Sexualities, and Pentecostalism” Arlene Sanchez Walsh 2018

• Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace, and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music . Vincent L. Stephens Series: New Perspectives on Gender in Music Copyright Date: 2019 Published by: University of Illinois Press

• “From Spirituals to Swing: Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Gospel Crossover” by Gayle Wald in American Quarterly vol 55

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

BONUS 0.8. Alternate Channels - Talking Queer TV with Steven Capsuto

We’re bringing you a bonus episode here on the History is Gay feed today, so get ready for a ride through the history of queers on TV! Leigh got a chance to sit down and talk with Steven Capsuto, author of Alternate Channels: Queer Images on 20th-Century TV, a deep dive into the history of queer representation on radio and the small screen from the 1930s to 2000! We chat about our favorite moments of representation from the era, the impact and role of gay activists in moving the needle forward for narrative depictions of queerness, and more!

This new edition features over 100 photos that weren’t included in the first printing in 2000, and is beautifully reimagined!

Where To Find Steven online:

• Visit www.alternatechannels.net, where you can find out more information about Steven and book him for lectures!

• Follow Steven on twitter  @StevenCapsuto for daily “Today in Queer TV History" tidbits and more!

• He also posts on the Alternate Channels Facebook page, with more detailed entries for Today in Queer TV History

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

30. Alan Turing: Computer Daddy

In this episode of History is Gay, Leigh and guest host Maren tackle the father of modern computing, and gay geek hero, Alan Turing! Whether he be sending love-struck letters about astronomy to his high school bestie, riding a bicycle in a gas mask, or completely revolutionizing mathematics and machinery, we’re in awe of Alan. Listen as we talk about his successes and foibles, and how history did this code-breaking, number-crunching badass dirty.

A Closer Look at Alan Turing

Alan at age 16. What a cutie!

One of the Bombes at Bletchley Park. This is what computers used to look like, y’all!

The German’s Enigma machine

Stephen Kettle’s 2007 Alan Turing statue, in Bletchley Park.

As we mentioned in the episode, here is video of Joan Clarke (later Joan Murray), discussing her short-lived engagement to Alan Turing:

If you want to learn more about the Alan Turing, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Did Alan Turing Have Asperger’s Syndrome?

• The Crime and Punishment of Alan Turing

• Letters Reveal Alan Turing’s Battle with his Sexuality

• Overlooked No More: Alan Turing, Condemned Code Breaker and Computer Visionary

• The Turing Digital Archive (You can see a whole bunch of primary source documents here, including letters written in Alan’s own handwriting!)

Books and Print Articles:

• Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

• The Imitation Game: Alan Turning Decoded by Jim Ottoviani and Leland Purvis

• Queers in History by Keith Stern

• Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present by Neil Miller

• Queer, There, and Everywhere by Sarah Prager

• Who’s Who in Gay & Lesbian History by Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

BONUS 0.7. Rainbow Revolutionaries: An(other) Interview with Sarah Prager!

Welcome to History is Gay's latest minisode! This time, we're interviewing author and queer historian Sarah Prager again, in anticipation of her new book Rainbow Revolutionaries: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History. We get into the details of who is featured in this new book, what it was like writing for a young audience, and get some sneak peek details about the illustrations for the book and the upcoming release party!

Image courtesy of Sarah Prager’s website

Her newest book, Rainbow Revolutionaries is a gorgeous book aimed at middle-grade readers, with beautiful illustrations and an array of 50 queer heroes!

Check out a preview of the book from Sarah’s instagram:

View this post on Instagram

Preview of RAINBOW REVOLUTIONARIES!! 🥰🏳️‍🌈🥳🤓📖😍 Peek inside the blad for my middle grade book illustrated by @sarahpapworthdesign coming out May 26, 2020 from @harperkids... and PRE-ORDER!! 😉 #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #lgbthistory #lgbtqhistory #queerhistory #mgbooktober #mgbooks #middlegradebooks #middlegradereads #weneediversebooks #rainbowrevolutionaries #sarahprager #sarahpapworthdesign #harperchildrens #transhistory #bisexualhistory #gayhistory #queerhistory #lesbianhistory #asexualhistory #intersexhistory #bookstagram #kidlit #kidlitart

A post shared by Sarah Prager (@sarahpragerbooks) on Oct 15, 2019 at 12:38pm PDT

Rainbow Revolutionaries comes out May 26! Preorder it online from your favorite bookstore, and then join Sarah at 1:00pm EDT for the online launch party!

Details and RSVP here!

Where To Find Sarah Online

• Preorder her new book Rainbow Revolutionaries: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History:

  • Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/rainbow-az

  • Audible: https://tinyurl.com/rainbow-aud

  • Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/rainbow-bn

  • Bookshop.org: https://tinyurl.com/rainbow-bookshop

  • HarperCollins: https://tinyurl.com/rainbow-hc

  • IndieBound: https://tinyurl.com/rainbow-ib

• Visit her personal website and follow her on Twitter @Sarah_Prager.

• Check out her daily queer history app, Quist.

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

29. Beyond the Rainbow: Building Queer Symbologies Before and After Gilbert Baker

For this episode, we’re bringing you a whole bunch of history at once, for everyone’s quarantined entertainment! Presented live on Zoom, we revisted a presentation that Leigh originally gave at the GLBT Historical Society Museum about the history of queer symbols before and after the creation of the rainbow flag, and sharing some stories from folks who participated in a flag-making workshop! From 600 B.C. to right now, queer people have used hundreds of symbols to refer to themselves, find community, and create shared language. Learn about just some of them in this episode, and tell us your favorites! What symbols are your favorites? If you were to create a new queer symbol or flag, what would you do?

You can follow along listening to the episode and see the presentation side show below:

Beyond the Rainbow: Building Queer Symbologies Before & After Gilbert Baker Hello and welcome to History is Gay, a podcast that examines the underappreciated and overlooked queer ladies, gents, and gentle-enbies that have always been there in the unexplored corners of history. Because history has...

New Queer Flags!

Below are some of the amazing pieces of artwork that the participants in our flag-making workshop at the GLBT Historical Society Museum back in January created! You can hear each person describe their flag, the symbolism behind it, and what inspired them toward their designs, in the episode!

Mya Byrne, Trans Butch Pride flag:

Iris, Queers with Disabilities flag:

Sadia Thomas, Black Queer Femme Power flag:

Steve, with his “queer pacifist” flag!

Rhea Ewing and Ezra Miller, Nonbinary Love flag:

If you want to learn more about queer symbols, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Books

• Queer x Design by Andy Campbell

• Banned Plays by Dawn B. Sova

Print and Online Articles 

• “Pink Triangle Legacies: Holocaust Memory and International Gay Rights Activism” by Jake Newsome

• “The Pink Triangle: From Nazi Label to Symbol of Gay Pride”

• LGBT Symbols Wikipedia page

• The Complete Guide to Queer Flags

• Lambda as a symbol for gay/lesbian rights

• Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements

• Violets, Bi-Angles, And Double Moons: A Guide To LGBTQ+ Symbols

• Oscar Wilde Tours: About our symbol, the green carnation

• Edouard Bourdet's Lesbian Play, 'The Captive', Was Certainly Captive of its Time

• The Violets of Dutchess County

• For more sources on Gilbert Baker and Sappho, see our notes pages for those episodes.

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

28. Anne Lister Goes to TGIFemslash

Welcome to Gretchen and Leigh’s annual episode hosted live at TGIFemslash! This is the con where it all began, and what better way to celebrate our origins than with the ‘first modern lesbian’, Anne Lister! The protagonist of HBO’s Gentleman Jack, Anne Lister was a 19th century British gentewoman who wanted to live as the 19th century British gentlemen did, including loving and marrying women, which she wrote extensively about in her diaries, but in a secret code. So join us as we learn more about her life, her loves, and her diaries, and you can even play along with the games we hosted live at TGI!

If you would like to get involved in the Anne Lister Transcription Project, head over to their website!

This year, we decided to literally bring our subject to life. AKA, Leigh revived their Anne Lister/Gentleman Jack Halloween costume and we had some fun!

Leigh and Gretchen getting set up for their panel at TGIFemslash

Anne Lister and Thermometer with fans!

A Closer Look at Anne Lister

Portrait of Anne Lister by John Horner (ca 1830).

portrait of Lister, probably by Mrs Turner of Halifax (1822).

One of Anne Lister’s many diaries in all it’s glory.

A close up page from Anne Lister’s Diary, dated May 28, 1817. (note the cross in the margin!)

The Anne Liste code.

Modern day shibden Hall.

Play along with us and try your hand at Who Wants to Be a 19th Century Lesbian!

19th century lesbian

If you want to learn more about the Anne Lister and her diaries, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Books

• Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by Anne Choma

• I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister 1791–1840 edited by Helena Whitbread

• No Priest But Love: Excerpts from the Diaries of Anne Lister edited by Helena Whitbread

• The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister edited by Helena Whitbread

• Presenting the Past: Anne Lister of Halifax, 1791–1840 by Jill Liddington

• Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority: The Anne Lister Diaries and Other Writings, 1833–36 by Jill Liddington

• Anne Lister's Secret Diary for 1817 by Patricia Hughs

• The Secret Life of Miss Anne Lister and the Curious Tale of Miss Eliza Raine by Patricia Hughs

• Miss Lister of Shibden Hall: Selected Letters (1800–1840) by Muriel Green

• Gentleman Jack. A Biography of Anne Lister: Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist by Angela Steidele

• Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women, 1778–1928 by Martha Vicinus

Print and Online Articles 

Oh god there are so many articles from right around when the tv series was getting attention, so we’ve selected a sampling. Just Google “Gentleman Jack” or “Anne Lister” and you’ll get dozens more.

• Anne Lister’s Decoded Diaries

• The Life and Loves of Anne Lister

• The True Story About Gentleman Jack: 10 Facts about Anne Lister

• Lesbian love and coded diaries: the remarkable story of Anne Lister

• The 19th-Century Lesbian Landowner who Set Out to Find a Wife

• The real ‘Gentleman Jack’: the secret life of Anne Lister, Britain’s ‘first modern lesbian’

• “Gentleman Jack”: 9 Facts About Lesbian Legend Anne Lister to Know Before HBO’s Miniseries

• 7 Entries From Anne Lister’s Diary That Were Key to Writing Gentleman Jack

• Anne Lister: The Woman Who Redefined a Time Period

• The Real Diaries of Anne Lister

• Anne Lister at West Yorkshire Archive Service

Videos

• The Secret Life of Anne Lister at Shibden Hall

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

BONUS 0.6. A Gay Poetry Salon with Alexandra Tydings

Happy Valentines’ Day, loves! We’re here today with a special treat bonus episode for you with a very special guest! You may know her from Xena: The Warrior Princess as the patron god of Sappho, the goddess of love, Aphrodite: it’s Alexandra Tydings! You heard her voice briefly in our last episode on Sappho, but we had so much fun talking with Alex about the Poetess, gay feelings, hysteria, and more, that we created a whole episode for it.

Where To Find Alexandra Online

• Check out her website (in progress) at www.alexandratydings.com

• Follow her on instagram at @atydings and on twitter @alextydings!

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

27. Sappho: F*cking Superb, You Funky Little Lesbian

At long last, hosts Gretchen and Leigh are going back to the beginning, to the OG lesbian: Sappho herself. Despite the dearth of information about her life and history, your hosts still find plenty to say about Sappho, her poetry, her legacy, and all the debate that’s circled around her for years. Was she a ‘school mistress’? Was she actually a man? Did she really have a husband or throw herself from a cliff? Find out what Leigh and Gretchen think and listen to fragmentary poetry filled with queer longing and other relatable feels like fire burning beneath flesh, wind crashing through mountain oaks, and…celery.

We’ll start off with one of the poems we didn’t discuss in the episode, but is a piece of writing that forms the basis for why we do this show. As Sappho writes in Fragment 147,

someone will remember us
I say
even in another time

A Closer Look at Sappho

Painting of Sappho by the “Sappho Painter” (circaa 510 BCE).

Sappho depicted holding a plectrum and lyre on the side of a vase (circa 470 BCE).

Head of a female figure widely believed to be a copy of the 4th Century BCE portrait of Sappho by Silanion.

Roman scupture of Sappho (5th Century BCE). Inscription reads “Sappho of Eresos.”

“woman with Wax Tablets and Stylus,” a Fresco from Pompeii (circa 55-79 CE). IT is frequently called “Sappho,” though we have no idea if the artist meant it as a portrait of the poet or not.

Fragment 58 (tithonus poem). Unfortunately, this is what a lot of Sappho’s poetry looks like, though usually even worse for the wear. :(

Woodcut of Sappho from Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris (circa 1541).

Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene by Simeon Solomon (1864).

Sappho, by Charles Mengin (1877).

Sappho by Amanda brewster Sewell (1891).

Sappho by Francis Coates Jones (1895).

Sappho of Lesbos by John William Godward (1904).

The Sapphic Stanza

Sappho not only wrote beautiful, haunting poems, but invented an entirely unique poetic form, appropriately named after her! Composed of two hendecasyllabic (eleven syllables) verses, and then a third verse beginning the same way and continuing with five more syllables (sometimes written as a fourth line), it gave Sappho’s poetry its lyrical nature.

Using "–" for a long syllable, "∪" for a short syllable, and "x" for a free syllable, the meter looked like this:

– ∪ – x – ∪ ∪ – ∪ – –

– ∪ – x – ∪ ∪ – ∪ – –

– ∪ – x – ∪ ∪ – ∪ – –

– ∪ ∪ – –

The Mixolydian Mode

This link also has some great information about another invention of Sappho’s: the Mixolydian Mode, which is a musical scale that is still in use today, although heavily altered through history!

What did Sappho’s poetry sound like?

Sappho’s poetry was meant to be recited to the sound of an ancient Greek instrument called a lyre, sometimes made from tortoise-shell, and looked like this:

She references the instrument in her poetry often, like in this fragment:

I took my lyre and said:
Come now, my heavenly
tortoise shell: become
a speaking instrument

And in the below video, you can see a modern replica of an ancient Greek tortoise-shell lyre, and hear what it would have sounded like, also being plucked and strummed with a plectrum, the picking instrument also credited as an invention of Sappho’s! A musical genius! The person in the video is Michael Levy, a musician who records and interprets ancient Greek lyre music:

Here’s a video of someone’s recorded interpretation of a Sapphic wedding hymn:

And here’s some more of Michael Levy’s music, with several different hymns and songs on lyre:

As a special bonus, two of our amazing listeners created a Sappho poetry generator you can play around with, as referenced in this episode!

Check it out here!

If you want to learn more about the Sappho, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Poets.org: About Sappho

• Girl, Interrupted: Who was Sappho?

• Gender Relations and Sexual Behavior in Ancient Greece

• Making Queer History: Sappho

• Sappho: the Original Lesbian of Greece

• Ancient History Encyclopedia: Sappho of Lesbos

Books and Print Articles:

• Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women by Leila J. Rupp

• Who’s Who in Gay & Lesbian History ed by Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon

• The Lesbian Lyre: Reclaiming Sappho for the 21st Century by Jeffrey M. Duban

• Lesbian Desire in the Lyrics of Sappho by Jane McIntosh Snyder

• Early Greek Poets' Lives: The Shaping of the Tradition by Maarit Kivilo (Sappho chapter)

• Ten Poems of Sappho: Provenance, Authenticity, and Text of the New Sappho Papyri

• Reflecting Sappho by Glenn W. Most

• Sappho's Company of Friends by Anne L. Klinck

• Re-Queering Sappho by Ella Haselswerdt

• Sappho and her Social Context: Sense and Sensuality by Judith P. Hallett

Translations of Sappho’s Poetry Used in this Episode:

• Sappho: A New Translation translated by Mary Barnard

• If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho translated by Anne Carson

• Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works translated by Diane Rayor

• Hymn to Aphrodite

• Poems of Sappho

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

26. A Royal Troublemaker in King Kristina of Sweden

What better way to start off the cold, wintery season than with a new episode of History Is Gay and a trip to, as Rene Descartes said, the land of rocks and ice and bears? For this episode, Leigh is joined by fantabulous guest host V Silverman to explore the fascinating history of King Kristina of Sweden. A probably nonbinary, most likely asexual, definitely biromantic monarch of 17th century Sweden, Kristina was known for their aesthetic tastes, insatiable hunger for knowledge, and absolutely atrocious spending habits. Follow our hosts as they track Kristina’s claiming of power, conversion to Catholicism, cavorting around Europe, and countercultural influence, with a few pit stops and power-grabs along the way.

Hey look, a guest host!

Meet V!

V is awesome. Friend of the pod, they are the fantastic artist behind our Geographic Queers gear designs, and joins us for the most delightfully genderqueer episode chock full of they/thems. V is also the co-host of the fantastic podcast Fuzzy Logic, an educational-ish, comedy-ish podcast where the hosts know very little about a whole lot. Listen, learn, and LOL! You can find more things from V at their website, or check them out on twitter @nikeagxy!

A Closer Look at King Kristina of Sweden

A rare portrait of a young Kristina, by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas, at 14 years old and uncharacteristically in a wig and feminine clothing.

A portrait of Kristina, by Sébastien Bourdon

Christina of Sweden by Sébastien Bourdon, 1653. This was Kristina’s favorite painting and hung in their bedroom to the end of their life.

The maidenly Belle, and Kristina’s intimate lady-in-waiting, Ebba Sparre.

Kristina and the Saumais playing a prank on poor Ebba Sparre, making her unwittingly read from a raunchy novel aloud. The GUFFAWS!

Axel Oxy-boy!

Kristina (on the left side of the right table), in an argument with Rene Descartes, in a romanticized painting by Nils Forsberg (1842-1934), after Pierre-Louis Dumesnil the Younger (1698-1781)

A portrait of Kristina in their later years, circa 1685.

And lastly, Kristina again in their elder years, rocking that badass androgynous style.

A Selection of Kristina’s Maxims:

• “We should be more miserly with our time than with our money”

• “It is more difficult to do evil than to do good”

• “Custom makes us insensible to almost everything”

• “We should never believe anything we have not dared to doubt”

• “A prince must think of himself a slave crowned by the people”

• “Happiness does not lie in the opinions of others”

• “Life is too short for love”

• “It requires more courage to marry than to go to war”

• “Patience is the virtue of those that lack either courage or force”
  

If you want to learn more about Kristina of Sweden, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Christina, Queen of Sweden. Maxims of a Queen, Christina of Sweden (1626-89).

• Queen Christina of Sweden, Lesbian Troublemaker

• Encyclopedia Britannica: Christina Queen of Sweden

• A Journal of the Swedish Embassy in the Years 1653 and 1654, Vol. II by Whitlocke

• GLBTQ Archive: Sweden

Books and Print Articles:

• Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric by Veronica Buckley

• Queer, There and Everywhere by Sarah Prager

• Surpassing the Love of Men by Lillian Faderman

• Who’s Who in Gay & Lesbian History ed. Robert Aldrich & Garry Wotherspoon

• “Two Portraits of a Queen: Calderón and the Enigmatic Christina of Sweden” by Deborah Compte, Hispanic Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1

• “Christina of Sweden's Patronage of Bernini: The Mirror of Truth Revealed by Time” by Lilian H. Zirpolo, Woman’s Art Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1

• Beneath the surface: the portraiture and visual rhetoric of Sweden's Queen Christina” by Nathan Alan Popp, University of Iowa

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

25. Chrysanthemums and Golden Bums: Male Love in Pre-Modern Japan

That’s right, Leigh and Gretchen are back with another delightful look at the history of homosexuality in East Asian history! Episode 3 explored homosexuality in Ancient China but this time, they’re heading over to Japan to take a closer look at Buddhism, samurai tradition, and the economy shaped homosexuality in the Tokugawa shogunate. But it’s not all context, you’ll laugh along with us at some of the monks’ exploits, swoon over romantic queer poetry, and peer into the delights of the floating world.. The tales we read were not shy in expressing intimate details (and you know we’re not shy in reading them!), so strap in for an exciting look at the rich history of male and female homosexuality in Japan!

As with our episode on China, many of the woodblock prints featured below are highly erotic and most likely NSFW. We will put those at the very end, but it might be best to save these for your living room, not your office!

Timeline of Japanese Time Periods Discussed in This Episode

Heian Period (784-1185 CE)
Kamakura period (1185-1333 CE)
Muromachi Period (1333-1573 CE)
Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573-1603 CE)
Edo Period aka The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868 CE)

A Closer Look at Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan

“Man and youth,” Miyagawa Isshō. ca. 1750. Note that the style and color of the kimono on the left would have been appropriate for youths of all genders, but not adult males. The kimono and hairstyle thus declares the youth to be the wakashu partner, and his exposed feet denote a sexual demeanor.

Nishikawa Sukenobu. ca. 1716–1735. A wakashu (center) steals a kiss from a female sex worker (right) behind the back of his male patron (left).

NSFW Woodblock Prints from Tokugawa Japan

hishikawa moronobu, Shunga. Early 1680s. A man reclines with one wakashu and converses with another. This is Possibly the first nanshoku erotic print, as well as an early example of a hand-colored ukiyo-e print in the shunga (erotic) style

"Client Lubricating a Prostitute" (while another peers through), Kitagawa Utamaro. late 18th Century. The caption of this illustration reads, no joke, “Pardon me if I tear your ass…”

Miyagawa Choshun (1683-1753),from “A Rare and Important Nanshoku (Male-Male) Shunga Handscroll.” 18th Century. Note the Chrysanthemums on the chigo’s Kimono (Right/Bottom).

Miyagawa Choshun (1683-1753),from “A Rare and Important Nanshoku (Male-Male) Shunga Handscroll.” 18th Century. That feel when you’re about to write a letter but decide a threesome is better.

Suzuki Harunobu, from "Shunga", A series of 24 erotic prints. Mid- 18th century, c. 1750.

“Old Buddhist,” Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Late 18th/early 19th Century. Note again the bare feet (indicating a sexual demeanor); the brocade Kesa robe indicates the wealthy status of cleric.

“Shunga with Tengu mask,” artist unknown (but not forgotten!). 17th century. The famous tengu mask print!

Utagawa Kunisada. Ca. 1840. Note the use of the harikata or double sided dildo (better than a Tengu mask? Who Nose).

Katsushika Hokusai. Ca. 1814. More ladies with a harikata to prove it wasn’t just a one off thing!

And because we mentioned it….leigh showing gretchen a hilarious illustration back when we were first starting this podcast. this screenshot is titled “that’s a pretty big dildo”.

If you want to learn more about homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Homosexuality in Japan

• Kagema

• “Homosexuality in the Japanese Buddhist Tradition” by Dharmachari Janavira in Western Buddhist Review, Vol. 3

• History of Same-Sex Samurai Love in Edo Japan

• Male Homosexuality and Popular Culture in Modern Japan

Books and Print Articles:

• “Captalism and Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century Japan” by Gary J. Leupp, in Historical Reflections, Vol. 33, No. 1, Eighteenth-Century Homosexuality in Global Perspective (Spring 2007)

• “The Invention of a Literary Tradition of Male Love: Kitamura Kigin’s Iwatsutsuji” by Paul Gordon Schalow, in Monumental Nipponica, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Spring, 1993)

• “Sex, androgyny, prostitution, and the development of onnagata roles in Kabuki theatre” by Sara K. Birk, in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers (2006)

• “The Changing Nature of Sexuality: The Three Codes Framing Homosexuality in Modern Japan” by Furukawa Makoto and Angus Lockyer, in U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal. English Supplement, No. 7 (1994)

• “The Gender of Wakashu and the Grammar of Desire” by Joshua S. Mostow, Chapter 4 in Gender and Power in the Japanese Visual Field

• Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan by Gary P. Leupp

• Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600–1950 by Gregory Pflugfelder

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

24. Transcestor Artists, A Look At Art Beyond the Binaries

Leigh and Gretchen are back from hiatus with an extra special episode! Recorded live at the Dallas Museum of Art on June 21st as part of the museum’s Pride events, your friendly neighborhood queer history nerds sat down to chat about gender diversity in art. Love mythology? Think that heteronormativity shouldn’t apply to deities? You’re in luck! Take a brief tour through gender diversity in Mesopotamian, Hindu, and Norse mythology—and it’s just scratching the surface! Leigh and Gretchen round off their conversation with a look at two modern artists who questioned and transcended gender norms in their lives and art: Anton Prinner and Frida Kahlo. So pull up a chair and hang out with a couple of gayvenclaws to, retroactively, celebrate pride and art beyond the binary!

A Closer Look at Trancestor Artists: Watch Our DMA Slide Show

Transcestors: A Look at Art Beyond the Binary

Gretchen and Leigh Find Gay Things at the DMA!

So Excite!

Holy cow…

So official!

Etruscans

Their underworld was gay.

Because they’re Hapi

Clap along if you feel like a god with two genders.

Our favorite communist, bisexual, anti-colonialist, Picasso hating artist, Frida!

That’s it for History is Gay live from the DMA!

If you want to learn more about the differently gendered deities in mythology, Anton Prinner, or Frida Kahlo, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Mythology

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_mythology

• Inanna/Ishtar

  • https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/inanna-ishtar

  • http://www.willsworld.org/priests.html

  • https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1062957.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fdefault-2%252Fcontrol&refreqid=excelsior%3A6f7cb9f7e6ddc0c10825ee0633344c67

• Hindu Deities

  • https://lusmerlin.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/ten-intersex-gods-and-goddesses/

• Hapi

  • Wikipedia: Hapi

  • LGBTime Machine: Ancient Rome

  • Ancient Egypt Online: Hapi

  • Hapi - The God of the Nile

• Loki

  • Wikipedia: Loki

  • Norse Mythology for Smart People: Loki

  • Prose Edda

  • North, R; (2001) 'Loki's Gender: Or why Skaði Laughed'. In: Olsen, LAJR, (ed.) Monsters and the Monstrous in Medieval Northwest Europe. (pp. 141-151). Peeters Publishers and Booksellers: Louvain/Leuven.

Anton Prinner

• http://biralat.hu/index.php?searchenginerUrl=muveszek/prinner_anton_.909.html&language=en

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Prinner

• https://next.liberation.fr/culture/2007/05/07/anton-prinner-entre-mystere-et-esoterisme_92262

• https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/06/06/anton-prinner-is-the-genderqueer-picasso-we-need-in-the-21st-century/

Frida Kahlo

• Imagining Her Selves by Gannit Ankori

• Religious Imagination and the Body: A Feminist Perspective by Paula Cooey

•  Biography of Frida Kahlo---Frida Kahlo Foundation

• Frida Kahlo: Role Model for Artists, People with Disabilities and Bisexual Women

• The Androgynous Frida

• Exploring Frida: The Sexuality, Gender, and Politics of Frida Kahlo

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

23. Bury the Hays Code

It’s that time of year again, time for the second annual live episode of History is Gay, live-recorded at TGIFemslash, the convention that birthed our little podcast! Join Leigh, Gretchen, and special guest host Morgan as they discuss the origins of queer censorship in the 20th century. They dive into the Hays Code, lesbian pulp fiction, and briefly discuss Patricia Highsmith, author of The Price of Salt---the lesbian pulp fiction novel from the 1952 that became the 2015 blockbuster Carol. So if you’ve always wondered where some of the worst of today’s tropes for queer women came from, you won’t want to miss this episode. And don’t worry, this story has a happy ending!

A Closer Look at the Hays Code

Production Code Administration (PCA) seal of approval.

Joseph Breen, one of the founders and head of the PCA from 1934-1954.

A Closer Look at Lesbian Pulp Fiction

The Third Way by Sheldon Lord (1962).

Odd Girl out by Ann Bannon (1957), first in the Beebo Brinker Chronicles.

Twilight Girl by Della Martin (1961).

Whisper their love by Valerie Taylor (1957).

A Closer Look at Patricia Highsmith

Highsmith at 21 (1942).

Highsmith and her cat Ripley (date Unknown).

Highsmith Publicity shot from 1962.

Highsmith on “After Dark” (June 1988).

The Price of Salt by Claire Morgan, aka Patricia Highsmith (1952).

If you want to learn more about the Hays Code, lesbian pulp fiction, and Patricia Highsmith, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Autostraddle’s Ultimate Infographic Guide to Dead Lesbian Characters on TV

• All 202 Dead Lesbian and Bisexual Characters On TV, And How They Died

• Patricia Highsmith’s best and most memorable quotes

• A Lover, Not a Liker

• In Defense of Patricia Highsmith

• Forbidden Love: The passions behind Patricia Highsmith’s “The Price of Salt.”

• Carol: the women behind Patricia Highsmith's lesbian novel

• Patricia Highsmith, Hiding in Plain Sight

• In 'Carol,' 2 Women Leap Into An Unlikely Love Affair

• The History of Hollywood Censorship and the Ratings System

• Remembering Hollywood's Hays Code, 40 Years On

• Pre-Code: Hollywood before the censors

• From Sissies to Secrecy: The Evolution of the Hays Code Queer

• You Probably Want to Read Some Lesbian Pulp Fiction

Books and Print Articles:

• The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

• The Cambridge Companion to American Novelists: Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

• Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson

• Media & Culture by Richard Campbell, Christopher R. Martin, and Bettina Fabos

• Lesbian Pulp Fiction edited by Katherine V. Forrest

• "When Girls Will Be Boys: ‘Bad’ Endings and Subversive Middles in Nineteenth-Century Tomboy Narratives and Twentieth-Century Lesbian Pulp Novels” by Mary Elliott, in Legacy, Vol. 15 No. 1

• “Bury Your Gays: History, Usage, and Context” by Haley Hulan in McNair Scholars Journal Vol. 21

• “‘Was It Right To Love Her Brother’s Wife So Passionately?’: Lesbian Pulp Novels and U.S. Lesbian Identity, 1950-1965” by Yvonne Keller in American Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 2

• “Invert History: The Ambivalence of Lesbian Pulp Fiction” by Christopher Nealon in New Literary History, Vol. 31, No. 4

• “Deviant Classics: Pulps and the Making of Lesbian Print Culture” by Stephanie Foote in Signs, Vol. 31, No. 1

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

22. Bae-yard Rustin: The Man Behind the March

February means love and Black history, so join Gretchen and Leigh as they celebrate both by diving into into the life and work of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin! Due to his being gay, Rustin’s role as advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. and in organizing the 1963 March on Washtington was actively erased for several decades. Fortunately, he’s been gaining more recognition in recent years and both queer history and civil rights history is actively recovering his memory and legacy. Whether it be for his pacifism, being gay, protesting all over the world, or riding a bus, Rustin was arrested over 25 times. He was a man who stood up for injustice wherever he saw it, even in prison! So join us as we talk about one of the most impactful but least well-known activists of the civil rights movement.  

A Closer Look at Bayard Rustin

Bayard Rustin’s Grandmother Julia Rustin.

School photo with Bayard Rustin (center), Photo Courtesy of the Chester County, Pennsylvania, Historical Society.

Bayard Rustin’s mug shot from his 1944 arrest for resisting the draft.

Rustin in the late 1940s. Photo courtesy of the Estate of Bayard Rustin.

Rustin protesting in Washington in the late 1940s. Photo courtesy of the Estate of Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin and Cleveland Robinson with a sign advertising the march on washington, 1963.

Rustin and A. Philip Randolph on the cover of life magazine, from the march on Washington, 1963.

Program from the 1963 march on washington.

Rustin at the headquarters for the Citywide Committee for Integration in New York City, 1964.

Rustin speaking at the ralley for school integration at City hall in New York, 1964.

Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965.

Bayard Rustin with walter Neagle, his partner from 1977 to Rustin’s death in 1987.

rustin at Trafalgar’s Square, 1983.

If you want to learn more about Bayard Rustin, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Bayard Rustin's Civil Rights Legacy Began with Grandmother Julia Rustin

• Not-so-secret life of gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin

• Who Designed the March on Washington?

• Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

• AFLCIO - Bayard Rustin

• The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute - Bayard Rustin

• Why MLK's Right-Hand Man, Bayard Rustin, Was Nearly Written Out of History

• Bayard Rustin’s Legacy Is Complicated, And That’s Okay

• Bayard Rustin: Martin Luther King’s Views on Gay People

Books and Print Articles:

• Bayard Rustin: Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement by James Haskins

• Bayard Rustin: Troubles I’ve Seen, A Biography by Jervis Anderson

• Queer, There, and Everywhere by Sarah Prager

• Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin, ed. By Devon W. Carbado and Donald Weise

• “Remembering Bayard Rustin” by John D’Emilio, in the OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 20, No. 2, History is Sexuality (March 2006)

• “Humanrights Hero: Remembering Bayard Rustin” by Walter Neagle, in Human Rights, Vol. 40, No. , The Fierce Urgency of Now: 50 YEARS LATER

• “Bayard Rustin’s Brief Encounters with Higher Education”, in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 16

Videos, Interviews, and Other Audio-visual Media:

• Making Gay History Podcast: Bayard Rustin

• Walter Naegle Talks About His Relationship With Bayard Rustin and Equality

• Bayard & Me

• Michelle Meow Interviews Walter Naegle Part 1 and Part 2

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

21. The Real Housewife of Rome

What better way to celebrate the New Year than with a new episode of History is Gay? This time, Gretchen and Leigh dive into the brief, controversial, and totally extra reign of Emperor Elagabalus of Rome. Or rather, Empress Elagabalus! Whether it be marrying multiple wives and one husband, revolutionizing the Roman religion, installing women as senators, throwing parties with sex workers, or enjoying the attention of well-endowed men, Elagabalus was as unconventional as they come. And chances are, she may very well have been a trans woman. So grab your jeweled slippers and tiara and enjoy the real housewife of Rome, Elagabalus.

A Closer Look at Elagabalus

 

Portrait of young elagabalus.

Roman Denarius featuring the bust of elagabalus (left) and the sun god Sol (Right) with upraised hand and whip. 221 CE. For a full database of Elagabalus coins, click here.

Roman Denarius featuring the bust of Aquilia Severa (Elagabalus’ second and fourth wife). ca 219-222 CE. For a full database of Aquilia Severa coins, click here.

Roman aureus featuring the bust of elagabalus (right) and a chariot driven by four horses (right) containing the stone of emesa—representing Elagabal—topped by an eagle—a symbol of protection in Syrian iconography and of roman imperial authority in roman iconography. 222 CE.

Roman Antoninianus featuring the bust of Julia Maesa (Elagabalus’ Grandmother). 218-219 CE. For more Julia Maesa Coins, Click here.

Sculpture of Julia Soaemias (Elagabalus’ Mother).

Paintings Dedicated to Elagabalus

Heliogabalus, high priest of the sun by Simeon Solomon. 1866.

The Roses of elagabalus, by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. 1888.

According to the Augustan History (uses he/him pronouns):

"In a banqueting-room with a reversible ceiling he once buried his guests in violets and other flowers, so that some were actually smothered to death, being unable to crawl out to the top.”

Elagabalus' entrance into Rome, with the baetyl representing elagabal behind him, as illustrated by Auguste Leroux for the novel L'Agonie by Jean Lombard (1902 edition). 1902.

If you want to learn more about Elagabalus, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Elagabalus at Outhistory.com

• The Life of Elagabalus Part 1

• The Life of Elagabalus Part 2

• Cassius Dio: Roman History Epitome of Book 79

• Cassius Dio Roman History Epitome of Book 80

• Heliogabalus (A Buffoonery in Three Acts)

• The Feminine Kinaidos

• Homosexuality in Ancient Greece Section 1

• Timarchus the Woman

• A Comparison of Ancient Roman and Greek Norms Regarding Sexuality and Gender

• Elagabal

• Heliogabalus’ Religion Part 1

• Heliogabalus’ Religion Part 2

Books and Print Articles:

• Queer, There, and Everywhere by Sarah Prager

• The Amazing Emperor Heliogabalus by John Stuart Hay

• The Emperor Elagabalus: Fact or Fiction? by Leonardo de Arrizabalaga y Prado

• The Crimes of Elagabalus: The Life and Legacy of Rome's Decadent Boy Emperor By Martijn Icks

• Greek and Roman Sexualities: A Sourcebook by Jennifer Larson.

• “Marlowe, the 'Mad Priest of the Sun', and Heliogabalus” by Tom Rutter, in Early Theatre Vol. 13, No. 1 (2010).

• “Censoring Eliogabalo in Seventeenth-Century Venice” by Mauro Calcagno, in The Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 36, No. 3, Opera and Society: Part I (Winter, 2006).

• “Active/Passive, Acts/Passions: Greek and Roman Sexualities” by Ruth Mazo Karras, in The American Historical Review Vol. 105, No. 4 (Oct., 2000).

• “History as Carnival, or Method and Madness in the Vita Heliogabali by Gottfried Mader, in Classical Antiquity Vol. 24, No. 1 (April 2005).

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

20. More Than Meets the Eye(brow): Frida Kahlo

In this episode, Gretchen and Leigh talk about Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist best known for her many self-portraits and for works inspired by nature and the culture and artifacts of Mexico. She may be known for her unibrow, but that’s far from the most important aspect of her art or her story or her art. In keeping with her self-exploration of identity in her paintings, we’re going to explore one of the things least well known about her: that she had relationships with men and women! That’s right, this famous postcolonial, multiracial, disabled artist was bisexual!

A Closer Look at Frida Kahlo

Frida, age 6, 1913. For this and other rare photos of her childhood, Click here.

Frida (right), age 9, and her sisters. photo taken by her father, 1916.

Frida (center) with her sisters and a younger male cousin, 1926. For this and other rare photos of Frida in the 1920s, click here.

Mural for the ministry of education, by Diego Rivera, 1929, featuring Frida Kahlo (bottom left, front).

Here you can see why Frida’s father called them, “The Elephant and the Dove.” Frida and Diego Rivera, 1932.

A photo from Toni Frissell’s vogue shoot of Frida, 1937.

Frida (Left) with Josephine Baker (Right) in paris, 1939.

Frida Kahlo (center) with Nayantara Sahgal and Rita Dar, 1947.

MIguel n. Lira’s Tabla con Diferentes Frasas y Firmas signed by friends, including frida kahlo, fellow member of “los Cachuchas,” 1948.

Close up of frida’s note to Miguel n. lira: “hermano de siempre no te olvides de la cahucha no 9, Frida Kahlo”— “Forever brother, do not forget la Cachucha no. 9, Frida Kahlo.” Alongside it is her doodle of herself wearing the cap for which the group was named, 1948.

Kahlo and Chavela Vargas by Tina Modotti, 1950.

Chavela Vargas performing “La Llorona” in Frida starring Selma Hayak as Frida Kahlo!

Frida in her garden with two fo her dogs, by gisle Freund, circa 1950. For this and other photos by Gisle Freund, Click here.

Frida’s studio with her wheelchair and adjustable easel, on display at La Casa Azul museum in Mexico.

Frida Kahlo’s death mask, also on display at La Casa Azul museum in Mexico.

A Selection of Frida Kahlo’s Paintings

Henry ford hospital, 1932.

Two nudes in a forest, 1939.

Self portrait with cropped hair, 1941.

Self portrait with monkey and parrot, 1942.

The broken column, 1944.

The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl, 1949.

still life (dedicated to samuel fastlicht), 1951.

Living Nature, 1952.

If you want to learn more about Frida Kahlo, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Frida and Los Cachuchas

• Biography of Frida Kahlo---Frida Kahlo Foundation

• Frida Kahlo: Role Model for Artists, People with Disabilities and Bisexual Women

• The Androgynous Frida

• A Bisexual Affair: Frida Kahlo and Josephine Baker

• When Frida Kahlo Set Her Eyes on Josephine Baker

• Meet the bisexual, black cabaret dancer and spy who dated Frida Kahlo and helped defeat the Nazis in France

• A Fabulous Romance – Frida Kahlo and Josephine Baker break down barriers

• Exploring Frida: The Sexuality, Gender, and Politics of Frida Kahlo

• Diary of a Mad Artist

• 21 Facts You Didn’t Know About Queer, Feminist Icon Frida Kahlo

• Gay History: Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo

• Was Frida Kahlo the “greatest love” and muse to this iconic lesbian chanteuse?

• Chavela Vargas and Frida Kahlo an Item in ’60s-era Mexico?

Books and Print Articles:

• Kahlo by Andrea Kettenmann

• Frida by Hayden Herrera

• Imagining Her Selves by Gannit Ankori

• Religious Imagination and the Body: A Feminist Perspective by Paula Cooey

Videos:

• Was Frida Kahlo Bisexual?

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!