Queer history didn't start with Stonewall. This book explores how LGBTQ people have always been a part of our national identity, contributing to the country and culture for over 400 years.
PROLOGUE
INTRODUCTION
Before We Start, or, What Is Normal?
SECTION I
America—New Beginnings, New Identities: 1500–1860
CHAPTER ONE
Native Peoples: Different Genders, Different Sexualities
CHAPTER TWO
Thomas Morton: Free Love Among the Puritans?
CHAPTER THREE
Jemima Wilkinson: The Surprising Life of Publick Universal
Friend
CHAPTER FOUR
Deborah Sampson: Patriot, Soldier, Gender Rebel
CHAPTER FIVE
Nineteenth-Century Romantic Friendships: BFFs or Friends with
Benefits?
CHAPTER SIX
The Mystery of Emily Dickinson: Passionate Attachments and
Independent Women
CHAPTER SEVEN
Julia Ward Howe, Samuel Gridley Howe, and Charles Sumner:
Complicated Relationships and Radical Social Change in Very Proper
Nineteenth-Century Boston
SECTION II
American Freedom Begins to Bloom—Change and the Civil War:
1860–1875
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Amazing Life of Albert D. J. Cashier: Transgender War Hero
CHAPTER NINE
Charlotte Cushman: American Idol, Lover of Women
CHAPTER TEN
Walt Whitman: Poet of the People
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Rebecca Primus and Addie Brown: A Nineteenth-Century Love Story
SECTION III
New Americans—Boldly Challenging Society: 1875–1900
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Radical Victoria Woodhull: First Woman to Run for President
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jane Addams: The Mother of Social Work
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Julian Eltinge: The Most Famous Cross-Dresser in America
SECTION IV
A New Century of Freedom—Radical Visions, Revolutionary Actions:
1900–1960
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Marie Equi: Fighting for Women, Workers, Peace, and Justice for
All
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gladys Bentley: Blues-Singing Bulldagger
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
World War II: The War That Started LGBTQ Politics
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Harry Hay: How His Society of Fools Started a Revolution
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin: Climbing the Ladder of Freedom and
Justice
SECTION V
Revolutionary Changes—The Seeds of Protest Begin to Bloom:
1960–1977
CHAPTER TWENTY
Pauli Murray: “You must remember that truth is our only sword”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Bayard Rustin: A Life of Activism
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Carl Wittman: Radical Movements, Political Organizing, and Country
Dance
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Rita Mae Brown: The Lavender Menace Writes Her Way to Freedom
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Gloria Anzaldúa: A Life Between Borders
SECTION VI
Backlash—Years of Struggle and Resistance: 1977–1990
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Sylvester and Anita Bryant: Marching to Two Very Different
Drummers
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Robert Hillsborough and Harvey Milk: Struggle and Violence, Grief
and Rage
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Essex Hemphill: The Power of Blackness
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Kiyoshi Kuromiya: Man of Many Movements
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Art in the Face of Death
SECTION VII
Moving Closer to Liberation—The Future Is in Sight:
1990–Present
CHAPTER THIRTY
Jamie Nabozny: Gay Teen Hero
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Jack Baker and Michael McConnell: It Started in a Barber Shop
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Sylvia Rivera: A Life in the Streets and a Guiding STAR
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Coming Out or Staying In: New Queer Ways of Living in the World
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Young People Today: The Future of Queer History
Glossary
Bibliography
Photo Credits
Index
Michael Bronski is Professor of the Practice in Activism and Media
in the Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard
University. He has written extensively on LGBT issues for four
decades, in both mainstream and queer publications including The
Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle,
The Advocate, Boston Review, Lambda Book Report, Z, and The
Nation.
Richie Chevat writes fiction and nonfiction for adults and
children. His adaptations for young readers include Our Choice by
Al Gore and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. He lives in
New Jersey.
“Readers will find a straightforward, documented, nonsensational
celebration of the contributions of LGBTQ people in the US . . . No
previous knowledge is assumed: definitions are provided, context is
established, and quaint contemporary mores are explained . . .
Above all, there is continuous reassurance that the definition of
‘normal’ has always been in flux, that numerous LGBTQ people have
been important figures in American history, and that young LGBTQ
people of today will make crucial contributions to future queer
history.”
—Booklist, Starred Review
“This adaptation for teens of the author’s 2012 Stonewall
Award–winning A Queer History of the United States is doubly
valuable; it serves well as a general read and fills a clear
curricular need. Each carefully selected profile bolsters the case
for queer leadership and activism as a driving force of
progress.”
—School Library Journal, Starred Review
“Alongside watershed moments like the 1969 Stonewall uprising and
the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, the text brings to
light less well-known people, places, and events: the 1625 free
love colony of Merrymount, transgender Civil War hero Albert D. J.
Cashier, and the 1951 founding of the Mattachine Society, to name a
few.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Readers seeking role models from the past will find an edifying
resource and invitation for further exploration into untold
stories.”
—Publishers Weekly
“With its focus on individuals who dared to fight for their rights,
A Queer History of the United States for Young People will serve as
a touchstone for LGBTQ readers seeking proof of the greatness that
preceded them and confidence in the success that awaits in their
future.”
—Shelf Awareness
“Bronski’s A Queer History of the United States for Young People is
a necessary, comprehensive, and accessible primer for queer
history. In a political climate that seeks to disappear LGBTQ
people and our contributions to society, it’s more important than
ever to cultivate a relationship with our queer past. Taking
guidance from the LGBTQ forebears profiled in this book gives us
permission to imagine otherwise and strive beyond the status
quo.”
—Alok Vaid-Menon, gender non-conforming artist and author of Femme
in Public
“It’s no easy task to craft a nuanced story of queer history for
young readers, but Michael Bronski and Richie Chevat have pulled it
off. Weaving together stories of diverse historical and
contemporary figures, this book peoples the queer past and present,
with hope for the future.”
—Leila J. Rupp, author of Understanding and Teaching U.S. Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History
“This volume is both timely and timeless: a deep, scholarly dive
into our history. It should sit at the table next to Zinn’s
People’s History—required, essential reading for all people.”
—Saundra Mitchell, editor of All Out and Out Now, and author of All
the Things We Do in the Dark
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