Study of Women and Gender 105 - INTRO TO LGBTQ HIST & CULTURES

This course is an introduction to the growing field of queer American history. Over the course of the semester, we will explore the histories of same-sex desire, practice, and identity, as well as gender transgression, from the late 19th century to the present. Using a wide range of sources, including archival documents, films, work by historians, and oral histories, we will investigate how and why people with same-sex desire and non-normative gender expressions formed communities, struggled against bigotry, and organized movements for social and political change. This course will pay close attention to the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality and the ways that difference has shaped queer history. We will work in the Special Collections at Smith and Mt. Holyoke and the community-based Sexual Minorities Archive. Together we will contribute a project to the web-based archive OutHistory.org. {H} Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25.