History has been taught as a linear development, stressing names, dates, and eras. However, actual human experience reflects a more nuanced development. Feminist theorist, Shulamith Firestone describes it as “the world as process, a natural flux of action, and reaction of opposites, yet inseparable, and impenetrable…history as a movie rather than a snapshot.” Michael Bronski, Professor of Practice in Media and Activism in Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard, takes this approach in his insightful book, A Queer History of the United States. The book spans 500 years of our nation’s queer history. The Kirkus Review calls it “a lucid, cerebral treatise on gay culture from the point of view of a clever historian who maintains that ‘the heritage of LGBTQ + people is the heritage of Americans.’” Since Professor Bronski’s book ends by 1990, the SDG will continue to update queer history with films, articles, and more recent historic and political developments. This SDG will be intellectually rigorous, entertaining and fun and provide a cautionary reminder of the consequences of silencing history.

In-Person