Oral Histories

Oral Histories - Documenting the Queer Past in St. Louis

About

Documenting the Queer Past in St. Louis Collection (WUA00478)

This collection consists of oral histories recorded for the course WGSS3172 "Documenting the Queer Past in St. Louis" at Washington University in St. Louis, as part of the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. The class was designed by Professor Andrea Friedman, with a goal "to create the possibilities for a more inclusive LGBTQ history of St. Louis that will be available to researchers and the public" (course handbook). To meet this goal, the project focused on interviewing LGBTQ elders, with a general guideline that much of their life was spent in the St. Louis area prior to the year 2000. Particular efforts were also made to include groups especially missing from archived LGBTQ records, such as working-class women, trans* individuals, and African Americans.

Undergraduate students in fall 2017 and fall 2018 conducted and transcribed the interviews, following the life-story oral history methodology. Professor Friedman also conducted additional oral histories 2017 - 2018 that are part of the project.

Conditions Governing Use

Providing access to materials does not constitute permission to publish or otherwise authorize use. All publication not covered by fair use or other exceptions is restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder, which may or may not be Washington University. If you wish to publish or license Special Collections materials, please contact Special Collections to inquire about copyright status at (314) 935-5495 or spec@wumail.wustl.edu.

Arrangement

The collection is ordered alphabetically by person interviewed.

Each link below opens a folder with audio files and a typed transcript if available. Users are provided access to these recordings and transcripts for educational or personal use only. They may not be reposted without permission (although sharing links is certainly encouraged). For further questions about copyright, usage, or to access recordings not available online, please contact mrectenwald@wustl.edu

Allen, Karin Louise
Interviewer: Andris, Elini
Date: 2017 Oct 30
Summary: Born in 1959, Allen attended Riverview Gardens High School in St. Louis county, and has over 30 years working in the banking industry in St. Louis. Topics covered in the interview include her childhood and her home life growing up; religion; her partner of 27 years, Pat, and the influence Pat had on her life; raising children and step-children; her current partner Tammy and their relationship; the local gay / lesbian community and bar scene; and friends made over the years.
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ID: 2017-013-01
Amore, Rita
Interviewer: Kaplan, Madison
Date: 10/21/2018
Summary: Amore's briefly covers her background growing up in the Midwest and working in engineering. Most of the interview focuses her Amore's involvement with the St. Louis Gender Foundation and changes in the Trans community in St. Louis since the 1990s.

Restriction: only summary available online; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-06
Archey, Janey
Interviewer: Ali, Ayan
Date: 2017 Nov 5
Summary: Archey is a lesbian activist living in Saint Louis, Missouri. Her activism work mainly focuses on anti-racism and challenging white supremacy work. Topics included in the interview include her family, life as a student at Webster University, work as a professor at the University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL), her work as a social worker, and activism efforts with anti-racist and anti-police brutality groups.
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ID: 2017-013-02
Braxton, Leon A., Jr
Interviewer: Jasnica, Yasmein
Date: 10/28/2018
Summary: Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Braxton moved to St. Louis in 1983 and has resided here since. In St. Louis she got involved with a number of activist groups including ACT UP and the Pride Center. At the time, she identified as a gay man, but would later discover she was intersex. Since this discovery, Braxton has spent a lot of time educating people in and out of the LGBTQIA* community on what it means to be intersex as well as how gender is fluid. Other topics covered include Braxton's efforts to combat the spread of HIV / AIDS, the local bar scene, Forest Park, and Braxton's drag career and reign as supreme queen.

Restriction: only summary available online; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-05
Brune, Elaine
Interviewer: Ruska-Kidd, Gabriella
Date: 10/24/2018
Summary: Brune grew up in Kansas City, and attended University of Missouri - Columbia. After graduation they began working in St. Louis. Brune identifies as gender non-binary or gender nonconforming. They worked as a health and physical education teacher in both St. Charles and St. Louis counties, then as a high school administrator prior to retiring. Some of the main topics discussed in this interview were early childhood experiences of not quite fitting in, shifting social circles and relationships; organizations they are currently involved in; and navigating queer life in St. Louis.

Restriction: only summary available online; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-07
Carpenter, Mary C. and Pfaffe, Barbara (Pook)
Interviewer: Hanigman, Jacob
Date: 29-Oct-17
Summary: Mary Carpenter was born in St. Louis in 1954, and received a Masters of Education from University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL). Pook Pfaffe was born in St. Louis in 1944 and received a BS degree in Zoology from Southern Illinois University - Alton. The interview covers both women's involvement in the group Wired Women (1983-1999), including the formation, peak years, and disbandment. Each shared personal stories of their interactions in the larger gay community of St. Louis, as well as their personal lives.
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ID: 2017-013-03
Ellis, Charlotte
Interviewer: Siebrass, Keralyn
Date: 10/08/2018
Summary: Ellis, age 75, was born and raised in St. Louis and has lived here her whole life. She attended college at Washington University in St. Louis, later joining the staff at Olin Library. Topics discussed include her coming out as a lesbian at the age of 50, organizations she is involved in such as SAGE and CHARIS, and shifting ideas of inclusive in the community organizations, such as with transwomen and allies. She also touched on the St. Louis lesbian social life she was a part of, which she describes as literary and contrasts it to the lesbian bar scene.

Restrictions: only summary available online; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-08
Goedde, Barbara
Interviewer: Arrington, Ayana
Date: 2017 November 5
Summary: Barbara Goedde grew up in St. Louis, attended Washington University for art school, and lives in South St. Louis City. In the interview Barb describes living in lesbian collectives in South City, connections with collective farms in southeast Missouri and Arkansas, and participation in the Gay Games. The collectives in South City had lesbians who were mechanics, working on cars, and lesbians who helped abused women. Barb also details the bars she went to, partners she had, harassment from other people, and the structure of her family growing up.
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ID: 2017-013-04
Henke, Geri
Interviewer: Sitterson, Mia
Date: 2017 November 3
Summary: Geri Henke was born in St. Louis in the 1940s. She attended Southeast Missouri State University and Notre Dame College, and received her bachelor’s degree in education. She later received master’s degrees from Webster University in counseling and women’s studies. This interview covers Geri’s life history from her early childhood to the death of her partner in 2013, with a focus on her experiences as a gay woman. Topics include: Geri’s experiences with Catholicism and Catholic education, the gender roles she witnessed and was subjected to growing up in the 1950s, her emerging sexuality and significant relationships with other women, her career as a professional singer, her exposure to St. Louis gay bars and coffeehouses, her work as a teacher and counselor, her involvement with Dignity in St. Louis, her long term partnership with Sharon Kramer, and the deaths of both her mother and lifelong partner in the 2000s.
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ID: 2017-013-05
Hudson-Lews, Lawrence E.
Interviewer: Hilmer, Natalie
Date: 2017 November 6
Summary: Lawrence Hudson-Lewis is a long-time resident of St. Louis. In this interview he discusses his childhood, his family's economic hardship, and living in many different parts of St. Louis. Hudson-Lewis covers his younger years at private, usually Lutheran, schools, then making friends in the LGBT community in high school and after. He talks about how the LGBT community was a great space of acceptance for him while also being a place in which he saw tensions along race, class, and gender lines. The interview concludes with discussion of support from the LGBTQ community when faced with HIV diagnosis, Pride celebrations, and understanding of the LGBT community across national borders.
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ID: 2017-013-06
Johnson, Margaret Katherine (Flowing)
Interviewer: Feldman, Jacqueline
Date: 2017 October 31
Summary: Margaret Flowing Johnson was born in 1940 and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. She moved to Saint Louis in 1964. The interview discusses the St. Louis community 1964 - 2017, especially Johnson's extensive work with the creation and leading of several queer activist groups. Topics covered: Women Rising in Resistance, Take Back the Night, Queer Nation, Black Lives Matter ,community organizing, coming out, family, intersectionality, AIDS, lesbian visibility, second wave feminism, and changes in the St. Louis activist community over time.
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ID: 2017-013-07
Kister, B.
Interviewer: Cramer, Lena
Date: 10/16/2018
Summary: Bob “Bobbi Fox” Kister was born and raised in the St. Louis area. They went to Grinnell College for undergraduate and studied Law at Washington University in St. Louis. They are divorced and have two grown sons. They started privately exploring their gender as a child, and publicly after having children. Topics discussed include St. Louis bars before the year 2000, HIV, and the St. Louis Gender Foundation (formerly "Gateway Femmes").

Restriction: only summary available online; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-02
Love, Sharon
Interviewer: Campbell, Grace
Date: 10/21/2018
Summary: Love discusses her life growing up in St. Louis, the attributes of her parents and her relationships with them, their racially mixed neighborhood, their Baptist church community, and her educational experience in both mixed and segregated St. Louis public schools. She discussed learning about photography in college, and later opening her own business. Later in life she identified as a transgender woman. The interview covers her difficulties in coming out, and the acceptance by people in her life when she eventually did. The interview ends with her participation and fondness for the St. Louis Gender Foundation. She served as Vice President and President for several years and sought to fix gaps she identified in the former leadership.

Restriction: only summary available online; full interview may only be accessed with written permission of interviewee; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-01
Maupin, Billie
Interviewer: Esparza, Nicolette
Date: 10/21/2018
Restrictions: full interview may only be accessed with written permission of interviewee; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-03
Morton, Virginia (Gini)Black
Interviewer: Parker, Camryn
Date: 2017 November 11
Summary: Gini Morton was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, moving to St. Louis after marrying her husband. Morton had seven children with her late husband and realized soon after that she was not as happy as she could because she was not living the life of her true sexuality. In the interview Morton discusses her upbringing and influences growing up in an African American household in Detroit and how this shaped perspectives of her own sexuality; raising a family in the 1960s, in the confusing racially divided city that St. Louis was and is; and life impacting effects of sexual abuse.
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ID: 2017-013-08
Neeley, Betty D.
Interviewer: Kerhoe, Lizzi
Date: 2017 October 30
Summary: Betty Neeley was born in 1936 in Williford, Arkansas, and moved to St. Louis after World War II. Later in life she received a GED (high school equivalency degree). In this interview Neeley discuses her upbringing, her family's move to St. Louis and particularly transformative early events including going to her first lesbian bar and getting a motorcycle, which provided her with a strong community. Betty also speaks to her past romantic involvements, as well as her history with her partner, Cindy. Other topics covered include her softball team, Gay Games, and recent accomplishments such as having an award named in her honor.
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ID: 2017-013-09
Nickens, Rudy
Interviewer: Hankin, Tess
Date: 10/18/2018
Summary: Nickens was born in Washington D.C.in 1955, and as of 2018 lives in St. Louis working as the Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity for the Missouri Department of Transportation. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Rudy became a co-owner the Sunshine Inn, a hub in St. Louis for LGBTQ life, and an educator in the St. Louis community. In this interview Nickens reflects on his personal identity and experiences as a proud black and gay man. Topics covered include efforts to educate others in the community about toxic masculinity, oppression, and inclusion; LGBTQ history; HIV / AIDS; intersecting and marginalizing systems of oppression; and hopes for future generations.

Restriction: only summary available online; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-04
Schmidt, Cat
Interviewer: Lilenbaum, Rachel
Date: 28-Oct-17
Restrictions: not available online
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ID: 2017-013-10
2 audio files
1 text file
Schmidt, Diana L. DeWeese
Interviewer: Their, Jane
Date: 2017 Nov 1
Summary: Diana DeWeese-Schmidt was born in St. Louis in 1946, living in the city until her teenage years when she moved to South St. Louis County. After graduating Afton High School in 1964 she married a man and had two children. In this interview DeWeese-Schmidt discusses her very sheltered upbringing, early stages of her relationship with Cat Schmidt in which she discovered her homosexuality, her painful divorce from her husband, her years frequenting clubs and bars with Cat (who performed as a Drag King), the experience of raising her children with a woman in a conservative time, and their 44 years together as partners.
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ID: 2017-013-11
Walker, Cindy
Interviewer: Storck, Sonia
Date: 10/12/2018
Summary: Walker was born in St. Louis and attended Washington University in St. Louis as an undergrad, graduating in 1980. She then attended law school in California and returned to St. Louis in the mid-2000s. Topics discussed include her lesbian identity while an undergraduate majoring in Women’s Studies, social groups and communities on campus and in St. Louis, bar culture and softball teams, pride parades, non-monogamous relationships, religion, and her coming out process

Restrictions: only summary available online, until 2024 Jan 1; contact Special Collections for more information.
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ID: 2018-024-09
Williams, Erise Jr.
Interviewer: Smith, Kayla
Date: 2017 October 31
Restriction: not available online; contact Special Collections for more information
Summary: Erise Williams was born in 1965 in Greenville, Mississippi. He received a BA in Journalism from Webster University, and a Masters in Public Health from St. Louis University. At this time of the interview Williams was President, CEO and owner of Williams & Associates Inc. / Rustin’s Place, and was a founding activist of BABAA (Blacks Assisting Blacks Against AIDS). The interview covers Williams' childhood and neighborhood, his mother, time in high school, relationships, time in college, views on identity, HIV/AIDS public health involvement, and community overall.
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ID: 2017-013-12
Hutchinson, Tonya A.
Interview Dates: May 21, 2018, May 30, 2018, June 15, 2018
Interviewer: Andrea Friedman
Tonya Hutchinson was born in 1971 in St. Louis and grew up in the Walnut Park neighborhood on the city’s North side. After high school, she joined the Air Force and was discharged for being gay. Recorded in three session, topics covered include Hutchinson’s experience growing up in Walnut Park; her years in St. Louis-area public schools, including as a student in the desegregation program; her relationship with siblings and her mother; her experience in the military and her involuntary discharge;her activism in the Black freedom movement, gay and lesbian movement, and other social justice movements, and her participation in the gay and lesbian social scene in the St. Louis region. One important and persistent theme concerned the difficulties of working as a lesbian in the black freedom struggle in St. Louis and as an African American woman contending with racism, especially in the LGBTQ community. Hutchinson also described her activities as a feminist organizer at University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL) campus, including violence directed against her; compared her experiences as an activist in Panama City, St. Louis, and the Bay Area; discussed her participation in protests following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO; and shared her thoughts about the meanings of radical activism, the current political moment in the United States, and the impact on her thinking of her travels to Ghana.
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ID: LH2018-024-10-1
LH2018-024-10-2
LH2018-024-10-3

About Finding Aid

Date Published: 2020 December 1

Finding Aid author: Miranda Recenwald