Transgender, Intersex, and Gender Non-Conforming History Reading
There are countless stories of TIGNC people throughout history. Although the language may have not been present, we can see examples of people breaking from norms of sex and gender for nearly as long as we have writing. Below is a curated list by queer historian Dr. Tamar Carroll of history readings for those interested in learning more about our community! Always remember: Our history is strong, and a central point of our resistance.
Trans Rochester Speaks
https://tamarcarroll.com/transroch
This is the website that RIT student Ben Eshelman created with oral histories of and newspaper articles written by Trans community members and activists in the greater Rochester area.
Jen Manion, Female Husbands: A Trans History
This book recounts the lives of more than a dozen people from the U.S. and England who lived between 1746 and 1910 and were assigned female, but interacted with society as men.
Susan Stryker, Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution
This book provides a chronological overview of transgender history in the U.S. from the mid-20th century to now.
Barry Reay, Trans America: A Counter History
This history traces Trans people and identity from 19th century U.S. to the present.
Eli Erlick, Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1950-1950
Biographies of 30 trans people who are largely unkown today, organized into sections on kids, activists, workers and athletes.
Caro De Robertis, So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer and Two-Spirit People of Color
New book that features excerpts from life history interviews with 20 elders of color in the U.S.
Emily Skidmore, True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
Tells the stories of 18 trans men who lived in the U.S. between 1876 and 1936 and who assimilated into mainstream rural communities.
C. Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
This award-winning book studies the intersections of blackness and transness from the mid-19th century to the present.
Elizabeth Reis, Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex, 2nd ed.
Traces changing definitions, perceptions, and medical management of intersex in American from the colonial period to the present.
Greta LaFleur et al, Trans Historical: Gender Plurality Before the Modern
This edited collection explores multiple gender experiences from Late Antiquity to the 18th century, in Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and what is now the U.S.
Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
This book surveys the lives of “people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories.”
TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly
Academic journal devoted to interdisciplinary work on transgender people and culture.