WGS 3400 - US LGBTQ+ History

Credits: 4

Traditional histories of the United States typically leave out the stories, experiences, and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender fluid Americans. This course will move the voices of LGBTQ+ people from the margins to the center of study and analysis. The course will trace LGBTQ+ history from the earliest era (pre-contact) to the present. The focus will be twofold: to explore the ways in which gender and sexuality have been socially and historically constructed and deployed, and to uncover the meaning people gave to their own experiences, as well as their contributions to American history and life broadly conceived. In this way, we will study how notions of gender and sexuality are shaped by and resist systems of power and oppression across time. In addition, we will look at the ways in which race, ethnicity, and class, further complicated norms and experiences of gender and sexuality in different historical moments, as well as the emergence of racial, ethnic, and class-based LGBTQ+ subcultures and communities. The story of LGBTQ+ history exists at the intersection of prejudice and pride; as such, topics will include representations of LGBTQ+ people in medicine, law, mass media, and popular culture, particularly in the late 19th and 20th centuries; the rise of resistance, liberation/ activist movements; the emergence of LGBTQ+ communities; and the historical development and evolution of language regarding LGBTQ+ people.

Fulfills: D and H in LS Core