Transgender Children in Antebellum America, 1776-1861, by Jen Manion

This exhibit, published originally on OutHistory in 2014, explores a series of stories published in children’s books and magazines in antebellum America. Some portray children being punished for transgressing gender roles, others expose the range of traits, actions, habits, and expressions that were associated with masculinity or femininity. For contemporary readers interested in the history of gender, these stories provide rich accounts of the possible ways that people could live across or between genders.

Jen Manion is Associate Professor of History and American Studies and Director of the LGBTQ Resrouce Center at Connecticut College. Manion received a BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in history from Rutgers University. Manion works at the intersection of activism and academia, believing both spheres of activity and inquiry have much to offer the other. Their publications include Taking Back the Academy: History of Activism, History as Activism (Routledge, 2004) and numerous essays and reviews. Jen's book Liberty's Prisoners: Gender, Sexuality, and Punishment in Early America is forthcoming from University of Pennsylvania Press. Jen is thrilled to have contributed to the first volume of the new journal TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly with an entry titled, "Transbutch." For more info, see JenManion.tumblr.com

Credit

The images were found in the archives at The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA, a world class research library that is open to the public and has a great amount of material digitized and available through its website. The tireless Laura Wasowicz introduced me to their vast collection of children’s literature while my friend and colleague Kate Adams pointed me to the Eliza Leslie stories. This short exhibit was curated from extensive amounts of research I have done on the larger project titled, “American Transgender Histories: from Revolution to Civil War.” This research has been funded by several generous sources including the following: National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society, Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellowship at the Massachusetts Historical Society, and Research Matters Grant from Connecticut College.

Further Reading:

Genny Beemyn, "A Presence in the Past," Journal Of Women's History 25, no. 4 (Winter 2013): 113-121.

Peter Boag, “The Trouble with Cross-Dressers: Researching and Writing the History of Sexual and Gender Transgressiveness in the Nineteenth-Century American West." Oregon Historical Quarterly 112, no. 3 (Fall2011): 322-33.

Stephanie A. Brill and Rachel Pepper, The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals (Cleis, 2008).

Paisley Currah and Susan Stryker, Postposttransexual: Key Concepts for a 21^st Century Transgender Studies, Spec. Issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1:1-2 (Summer 2014).

John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, Third Edition (University of Chicago, 2012).

Anna Mae Duane, ed., The Children’s Table: Childhood Studies and the Humanities, (University of Georgia Press, 2013).

Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors, (Beacon Press, 1996).

Kathryn Bond Stockton, The Queer Child: or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century (Duke University Press, 2009).

Susan Stryker, Transgender History (Seal, 2008).

Susan Stryker, "Transgender History, Homonormativity, and Disciplinarity," Radical History Review no. 100 (2008): 144-157.

Etsuko Taketani, “Spectacular Child Bodies: The Sexual Politics of Cross-Dressing and Calistenics in the Writings of Eliza Leslie and Catharine Beecher” The Lion and the Unicorn 23.3 (1999): 355-372.

David Valentine, Imagining Transgender (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007).