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Posted by: Ryan Reft
For much of the twentieth century “coming out” carried with it a particular meaning associated with friendship, intimacy, and community. The new “Join In” exhibit explores how Americans have engaged in associational life in order “to achieve goals from simple fellowship to social change.” It also highlights the emergence of the LGBTQ community in the United States during the twentieth century.
Posted in: Women's & Gender History
Posted by: Ryan Reft
A new By the People crowdsourced transcription campaign, “American Federation of Labor Records: Letters in the Progressive Era,” launched in late April. By taking part in the campaign, volunteers will discover how the labor union engaged with issues of race, class, and gender during the early twentieth century.
Posted in: African American History, Digital Collections, Labor, Women's & Gender History
Posted by: Ryan Reft
Forty years ago, Patricia Roberts Harris went down in defeat to Marion Barry in the 1982 mayoral election in the District of Columbia, yet, her campaign correspondence with legal scholar, feminist, civil rights activist, and unofficial political advisor Pauli Murray reveals the impact of gender on the outcome, the role of intersectionality in the lives of Black women, and the way defeats can lead to future victories.
Posted in: African American History, Politics, Women's & Gender History
Posted by: Ryan Reft
"Comprised of more than 172,000 items, the AFL collection is a potential treasure trove, yet the work has only just begun. The field of labor history has much to gain by continuing to analyze these records through an intersectional lens," writes Mills Pennebaker, a fall 2021 Archives, History, and Heritage Advanced intern, who discusses her experience researching issues of race, gender, regionalism, and class in the recently digitized American Federation of Labor Records.
Posted in: African American History, Labor, Women's & Gender History
Posted by: Ryan Reft
As the year draws to a close, it seems like a good time to look back and highlight some of the political, social, cultural, military, and scientific manuscript collections and resource guides that the Manuscript Division has recently made available for researchers to explore. We’re already hard at work acquiring, arranging, and describing the historical …
Posted in: Civil War, Science and Technology, War and Society, Women's & Gender History
Posted by: Ryan Reft
Lanai Huddleston, Archives History and Heritage Advanced Internship intern in the Manuscript Division, winter 2021, discusses the history of sororities and debutante balls in the African American community found in the Dupree African American Pentecostal Collection and materials in it derived from the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Theta Omega Chapter of Raleigh, North Carolina, a sorority that includes Kamala Harris, Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, and many other outstanding Black women.
Posted in: African American History, Intern Spotlight, Women's & Gender History