Browsing Tag

historians of the queer south

Historians of the Queer South: Remembering Florida’s ‘Johns Committee’ with Stacy Braukman

A photo of Stacy Braukman, researcher of the Johns Committee.

“Will someone please find out what the hell is going in Florida? We’ve had enough!” Stacy Braukman and I share a laugh. The question she’s just posed feels all too pertinent. My longtime partner lives part of the year in Florida, and through him, I’ve been getting a front-row seat to the state’s noxious anti-LGBTQ, anti-Black, anti-immigrant, and anti-protest politics.…

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Historians of the Queer South: Queering the Florida Panhandle with Historian Jerry Watkins

A photo of Jerry Watkins.

“My office is the gayest place on campus,” declares Professor Jerry T. Watkins III with a grin. He’s not kidding. In the background behind him, I can see through my Zoom screen, the wall sports an LGBTQ pride flag, a poster of a renowned local Virginia queer cultural figure, buttons from the AIDS activist group ACT UP, and various other colorful items testifying to the unapologetic queerness of the office’s sole resident. It’s the kind of environment intended to make a…

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Historians of the Queer South: Robert Fieseler Remembers the 1973 Up Stairs Lounge Fire

A photo of Robert Fieseler, a historian of the queer South, with his book Tinderbox.

Fifty years ago this week, a horrifying tragedy struck the New Orleans queer community. On June 24, 1973, an arsonist attacked the Up Stairs Lounge, a French Quarter gay bar, killing 32 people. Until the Pulse massacre in Orlando in 2016, it was the most lethal attack on the LGBTQ community ever perpetrated in the United States. Yet even today, few people have heard of it. Robert Fieseler has done more to change that than nearly anyone.…

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Historians of the Queer South: Jaime Harker’s Lesbian Literary Renaissance

A photo of queer historian of the South Jaime Harker and her book The Lesbian South.

You can tell that Jaime Harker loves her job. I first learned about this scholar of the queer South through her brilliant 2018 study, The Lesbian South: Southern Feminists, the Women in Print Movement, and the Queer Literary Canon. When she’s recounting a tale from the adventurous, unapologetic southern lesbian literary cultures of the 1970s to 1990s that her book documents, her whole face lights up. Her buoyant enthusiasm shines through as she gestures avidly, grinning ear to ear, pumping…

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Historians of the Queer South: Announcing a New Spectrum South Series

A photo of books by historians of the queer South.

We know you don’t have time to read every book and listen to every podcast out there. But chances are, you’re curious to know more about our history (and herstory, and theystory). That’s why we’re launching Historians of the Queer South, Spectrum South’s new series of articles profiling the writers and researchers who are helping to tell our stories. Each month, we’ll share a new article highlighting a scholar who we think has made a particularly important contribution to our…

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