Tag Archives: transgender

Transgender History Month: Books for Adults

11 Aug
Cover of Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History 1850-1950 by Eli Erlick. Cover features torn images of black and white photographs of various historical trans people surrounded by multicolored strips.
Cover of Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton. Features a photograph of a black couple one in a dress holding a top hat and the other in a tuxedo holding a fan.
Cover of Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam. Features an abstract image of colors forming the shape of people against a black background.

August is Transgender History Month! Take a look at these non-fiction selections from our BCCLS catalog that tell the long, rich history of transgender pioneers. 

Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950
by Eli Erlick (physical)
Eli Erlick shares the stories of 30 trans trailblazers, organized into four deliberate parts: activists, workers, kids, and athletes. 

The Other Olympians: Facism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports
by Michael Waters (physical)
In the mid-1930s, two of European track and field’s most celebrated athletes announced that they were both men despite being assigned female at birth. Waters recounts how because of their transitions, Zdeněk Koubek and Mark Weston influenced the fixation with gender in sports we see nearly a century later.

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
by Kit Heyam PhD (physical) 
Before We Were Trans highlights the histories of trans and gender nonconforming people across West Africa, Asia, and the Americas, showcasing how the category of gender has been redefined and altered throughout history. 

Female Husbands
by Jen Manion (physical)
This text explores historical material from the American colonial period through 1910, highlighting British and American people assigned female at birth who moved through society as men. The title refers to shifting understandings of gender politics and women’s rights shortly before World War I, labeling such people as “female husbands.” 

Histories of the Transgender Child
by Julian Gill-Peterson (physical)
Before today’s terminology to describe them, transgender children existed. This text explores accounts from the early-twentieth century onward how children and their parents navigated the medical system and other institutions, playing close attention to how race impacted their experiences. 

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
by C. Riley Snorton (physical, eBook) 
Snorton explores the interconnection between Black and trans identities from slavery, through emancipation up until internet culture of the 1990s using fugitive slave narratives, sensationalist journalism and Hollywood films. 

Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City
by Gregory Samantha Rosenthal (Hoopla eBook) 
Combining historical analysis, theory, and memoir, Gregory Samantha Rosenthal, PhD documents her story of coming out as a trans woman alongside the history of the LGBTQ community in Roanoke, Virginia. 

Trans Historical: Gender Plurality Before the Modern
edited by Greta LaFleur, Masha Raskolnikov, and Anna Kłosowka (Hoopla eBook)
This text’s contributors consider how social experiences of gender functioned as distinct from sex assigned at birth in the medieval and early modern periods. 

The Risk It Take to Bloom: On Life and Liberation
by Raquel Willis (physical, eBook, e-audiobook)
Situated between the Obama and first Trump administrations, journalist and activist Raquel Willis shares her experiences of coming out, influenced by the epidemic of violence against trans women of color, and how that led her to become one of the most formidable Black trans activists in history.

Written by:
Allison Woodley
Information and Digital Services Assistant

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Documentaries to Check Out in Honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance

2 Dec

Transgender Day of Remembrance, occurs each year on November 20.  It is a day to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia and to bring attention to the continued violence frequently directed toward the transgender community.  It was started by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998.  Rita was a part of the transgender community in Boston where she worked toward education around transgender issues.

Because of this day, the week from the November 14-20 is considered Transgender Awareness Week by GLAAD and other organizations and some groups also celebrate the whole month of November as Transgender Awareness Month.  Below are documentaries Hoboken and other BCCLS patrons can check out any time from Hoopla!

What’s the T?

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The T in LGBT stands for transgender and the award winning documentary, What’s the T? looks at the lives of five women whose lives began as boys.  They are a diverse group including an actress, a student, a dancer, an activist, and a nurse.  The film was shown at numerous film festivals and was praised for capturing the compelling lives of its subjects.

Growing Up Trans

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The PBS documentary Growing Up Trans looks at transgender children and their families who are exploring what it means to grow up being transgender.  It includes an interesting look at how medical advances are allowing them to make the transition before puberty and how this impacts their lives.

Out Late

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On the other side of the age spectrum the documentary Out Late features five people who came out as lesbian, gay, or transgender, after the age of 55. LeAnna, who served in the military as a man, became a woman at age 60.  The documentary looks at why they chose to come out later in life and what being out meant to them.  Those featured come from a diverse cross section of North America including Canada, Florida, and Kansas.

I Am the Queen

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In the Humboldt Park neighborhood in Chicago, the Vida/Sida Cacica Pageant brings together the Puerto Rican community to celebrate its transgender participants. I Am the Queen follows Bianca, Julissa and Jolizza as they prepare for the pageant. The women share stories of their transition, their relatives’ reactions, and how they find support in the community.

Do you have other documentaries or transgender resources to recommend?  Let us know in our comment section!

-Written by Aimee Harris, Head of Reference

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