Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people have established gathering spaces to find acceptance, form social networks, and unify to resist oppression. Framing the emergence of queer enclaves in reference to place, this volume explores the physical and symbolic spaces of LGBTQ Americans. Authors provide an overview of the concept of “place” and its role in informing identity formation and community building. The book also includes interactive project prompts, providing opportunities to practically apply topics and theories discussed in the chapters.
Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Preface
Katherine Crawford-Lackey
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Making Community: The Places and Spaces of LGBTQ Collective Identity Formation
Christina B. Hanhardt
Chapter 2. The Geographies of LGBTQ Lives: In and Beyond Cities, Neighborhoods, and Bars
Jen Jack Gieseking
Chapter 3. LGBTQ Art and Artists
Tara Burk
Chapter 4. Historical Landmarks and Landscapes of LGBTQ Law
Marc Stein
Chapter 5. LGBTQ Experiences and Health
Katie Batza
Chapter 6. Locating Miami’s Queer History
Julio Capó, Jr.
Chapter 7. Queerest Little City in the World: LGBTQ Reno
John Jeffrey Auer IV
Chapter 8. Chicago: Queer Histories at the Crossroads of America
Jessica Herczeg-Konecny
Chapter 9. Activities
Katherine Crawford-Lackey
Discover Historic Places in the Community
Explore a Place
Record Oral Narratives
Campus Community Pop-Up
Creating and Preserving Community Places in the Digital Age
Complicating Progress Narratives
Researching Legislation
Host a Historic Preservation Workshop
Bibliography
About the Author :
Katherine Crawford-Lackey is a PhD candidate in public history at Middle Tennessee State University. She currently serves as a contractor with the National Park Service. Her research focuses on public commemoration and place-based history.
Review :
“This is a very strong volume. Public historians committed to working with LGBTQ communities should consider getting their hands on all three volumes. Altogether, these books represent a stunning achievement in synthesizing cutting-edge scholarship on queer communities in the United States, placed within the very helpful context of thinking about historic preservation and interpretation. Many of the authors in Communities and Place are celebrated scholars with important monographs on queer history to their names. All of this combines to make a volume that is well worth your read, even if you already have consumed the essays in LGBTQ America.” • Public Historian
“This is an exciting book that takes U.S. LGBTQ public history to the next level. Through careful historical research, the authors reveal how diverse spaces—urban gay neighborhoods, beaches, rural communes, legal jurisdictions, and more—have fostered or constrained an equally diverse population of LGBTQ Americans in the past and present.” • Scott De Orio, Northwestern University
