The late 1920s birthed what would become a defining cultural phenomenon—the “pansy craze”—when LGBTQ+ culture burst into mainstream American entertainment from the late 1920s through the early 1930s. The smoky haze of Prohibition-era speakeasies provided the perfect backdrop for drag queens, called “pansy performers,” to be catapulted into underground stardom, Read more
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was an ethically problematic, to say the least, medical research project conducted in Alabama. Officially titled “The Effects of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” this government-sponsored research project was conducted by the United States Public Health Service in Macon County, Alabama, between 1932 and 1972. Read more
Marissa: Some disability history focuses on disabilities that people are born with: intellectual disabilities like Down’s syndrome, or physical disabilities like spina bifida. Another important proportion of disability history revolves around combat veterans and disabilities like those experienced by amputees or those diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As Sarah discussed Read more
In the late 1940s and 1950s, alongside the better known “Red Scare” that targeted alleged internal political enemies – American Communists – the US government led a crusade against gay men and women in the military and civil service. During the “Lavender Scare,” thousands of people were fired or forced Read more
In the summer of 1943 the city of Los Angeles erupted into what has become known as the Zoot Suit Riots, where roving bands of white servicemen beat and stripped Mexican American youth of their distinctive zoot suits. The riots took place amidst the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial- a case Read more
Friends, we published a book! Spiritualism’s Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Seances in Lily Dale is now available from Cornell University Press. The official launch date was October 15, 2024, and we’ve been hard at work telling everyone we can about the book, with book talks in Buffalo and Rochester back Read more
The modern history of the body is marked by the coinciding pathologization of fatness AND the elevation of a new thin ideal. But one can make the argument that even after fatness was pathologized (deemed medically or psychologically abnormal), it was not necessarily stigmatized in any systematic way UNTIL its Read more
Researched and Written by Sarah Handley-Cousins Produced by Marissa C. Rhodes and Sarah Handley-Cousins In 1923, Zitkala-Ša, a Dakota woman, wrote an unpublished essay titled “Our Sioux People,” tracing the U.S. government’s relationship with the tribe. She described a scene where delegates from the Pine Ridge reservation met with Mr. Read more
A content warning… more feelings content than gory content, but nonetheless: We’re talking about abortion and Ireland today. It’s hard for a lot of reasons. People shouldn’t have to fight so hard to make decisions for their own bodies. An unborn fetus should not have the same legal status as Read more
Please be aware that this episode contains references to racism and violence. Marissa: In 1937, a man named Page Harris was interviewed at his home for an oral history project. The interview was part of the federally funded Works Progress Administration, an aspect of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal designed to Read more