Browse material on the OutHistory website by subject.
Education and Intellectual Life |
A 2023 interview about the documentary film-in-progress Sally, which focuses on lesbian feminist author and activist Sally Gearhart.
An essay and primary source exhibit on the 1951 correspondence between Henry Gerber, an early U.S. gay rights leader, and Jim Egan, an early Canadian gay rights advocate. Published originally on OutHistory in 2023.
Esther Eng made a name for herself as the world's first female Chinese American filmmaker, a successful restaurateur, and—rejecting social expectations—a woman who felt little need to hide her romantic and sexual relationships with other women.…
The Stone Wall, the autobiography of Ruth Fuller Field, was published under the name "Mary Casal" in Chicago in 1930. The text presents the extraordinarily frank sexual and affectional life history of an American lesbian. OutHistory…
OutHistory presented the first public showing of a documentary film about long-time gay activist Randy Wicker. The 50 minute film, produced and directed by Michael Kasino, uses interviews, movies, and still photos to detail the life of this ornery,…
A collection of love letters to Emma Goldman, the anarchist leader, vividly conveys the emotions and varied life experience of Almeda Sperry, their complex author. The letters detail and evoke Sperry's tender-brutal relationship with her husband…
A memoir detailing the struggles of Gary Miller's childhood and youth in San Diego and Kansas City before turning to his subsequent political and community service in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Roseville, CA. Published originally on…
An introduction to the 1937 case history of “Mary Jones,” who scholars have identified as African American actress Edna Thomas. First published on OutHistory in 2015.
An interview with a documentary filmmaker who received a National Endowement for the Humanities grant in support of the first full-length documentary feature on Lorraine Hansberry. The interview was conducted by a consulting humanities scholar on the…
An exploration of the brief but significant life of African American educator Juliette Derricotte.
An exhibit on the life of Sara Josephine Baker, a pioneering figure in the history of public health. Published originally on OutHistory in 2014.
A collection of biographies to celebrate Black History Month, first published on OutHistory on January 23, 2014.
Profiles of ten LGBT social justice activists by Rich Wilson. First published December 10, 2013. Last edited: May 28, 2017.
Ruth Peter Worth, originally Ruth Wertheimer, was a Jewish Holocaust survivor, a U.S. immigrant, a lesbian, and a long-time home owner in Cherry Grove, Fire Island, New York. Published originally on OutHistory in 2011.
Containing unique items from the personal collection of Rich Wilson, this exhibit focuses on 19th-century queer experience in the United States.
This proud moment in civil rights activism is also a moment to reflect on how LGBT civil rights strategies have overlapped with, drawn strength from, and patterned themselves on a century and a half of anti-racist struggle in the United States.
A collection of biographies written by the students in Catherine Jacquet's Fall 2012 class at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The class was titled "Gender Non-Conformity in Historical Perspective."
The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., is the oldest continuously active gay rights organization in the United States. Founded on April 20, 1971, as the Gay Activists Alliance, the group dedicated itself to securing the…
Man-i-fest follows the letters of Lou Sullivan to David, highlighting the topics and mentors that shaped the FTM community in San Francisco from 1976 to 2009. The central items in the exhibit appeared in Gateway: the newsletter of Golden Gate…
This is a short history of the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club, published originally on OutHistory in 2013. This history explains how the club got started in San Francisco, California as the first registered…