Presentations highlight various people and events in LGBT history and focused on early world and U.S. history. Final Presentation for LGBT history course.

1. Webinar 6:
Class Presentations: Important People
and Events in LGBT History – Part 1
“Teaching LGBT History in Schools”
Instructor: Rob Darrow, Ed.D.
July 2018
www.RobDarrow.us

2. Recording that goes with
these slides:
➢ LGBT History People and Events:
Early History (37 min):
➢ Video Recording *
➢ Audio Only *
➢ Google: Slide Deck 01.

3. LGBT History
Stories of People and Events:
Early History
July 2018

4. Early History
• Lori Caldeira - Overview Same Sex Relationships in the Medieval World
• Magnus Hirschfeld / Li Shiu Tong
• Liz Sturm - Jane Addams
• Nicole DeMatteo - Slavery and Alternative Family Structures
• Whitney Thompson - Zora Neale Hurston

5. Overview of Same Sex
Relationships throughout the
Medieval World
Lori Caldeira - LGBTQ
History Course - 2018

6. Greco-Roman Views
Pre-Christianity
Ancient Greece:
➢ Standard was on how good of a
citizen one was
➢ Duty to carry on family lines
➢ Sexual Orientation was not an
issue as long as societal
responsibilities were met
Lori Caldeira - LGBTQ
History Course - 2018
Ancient Rome:
➢ Marriage a contract & duty - not
romantic
➢ Orientation neither questioned
nor judged
● Some social status restrictions
apply
● Citizen responsibilities must be
observed
● Same sex relationships were
expected and not taboo

7. Meso-American Peoples
(pre-Columbian & Spanish Conquest)
➢ Mayans: connection between same
sex relationships and rituals
➢ Zapotecs: same sex relationships
common especially among men
➢ Toltecs: extremely tolerant
● (until conquered by the Aztecs)
➢ Aztecs: prudish; hanged those who
engaged in same sex relationships
Lori Caldeira - LGBTQ
History Course - 2018

8. African Peoples
Pre-Islam/Christianity
Lori Caldeira - LGBTQ
History Course - 2018
➢ Early African art depicts same sex
relationships
➢ Households were more polygamous
than monogamous
○ Same sex relationships for both genders
➢ Specific countries mentioned in
sources included: Cameroon,
Gabon, Egypt, Madagascar, Benin,
Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya & others.

9. Medieval Islamic Views
➢ Recognized the existence of
same sex relationships/attraction
➢ Similar to Greco-Roman views
● Orientation a matter of personal taste
● Must fulfill citizenry responsibilities
➢ More contradictory statutes than
other belief systems mostly
based on gender norms
Lori Caldeira - LGBTQ
History Course - 2018

10. Medieval China
(prior to Western Influence - Christian/Islamic views)
➢ Confucianism & Taoism
focused primarily on the
spiritual being
➢ Same sex relationships
considered a natural facet of
society
➢Allusions to same sex
relationships found throughoutLori Caldeira - LGBTQ
History Course - 2018

11. Same sex relationships have existed
peacefully throughout history...the
idea of taboo is a fairly modern
construct that seems to coincide
with the rise of organized religions
Lori Caldeira - LGBTQ
History Course - 2018

12. Li Shiu Tong
● 1907 Born -Grandson of Quin Dynasty general
and emperor's confidant, LI Hung-chang
● Traveled to Berlin to follow sexual studies
revolution
● 1923 Met Hirschfled
● 1933 Followed Hirschfeld
● Beneficiary in Hirschfeld’s will
● 1958 Returned to Hong Kong
● 1993 died in Vancouver, Clark County
Washington
Yvonne Gray
Li Shiu Tong and
Magnus Hirschfeld

13. Magnus Hirschfeld
● 1868 Born in Germany (gay
Jewish man)
● 1897 Headed the Scientific
Humanitarian Committee
● 1908 editor of sexology journal
● 1914 Published book,”The
Homosexuality of Man and
Woman” (questionnaires)
Yvonne Gray

14. Magnus Hirschfeld
● 1919 Founder of Institute for Sex
● Nicknamed, “Einstein of Sex”
● 1920 Attacked in Germany
● 1923 World lecture tour (18 Months)
● 1930’s Hounded by Nazis, institute
destroyed, books -burned
● Exiled to France -attempted to
reestablish the institute
● 1935 Died of heart attack in France
Yvonne Gray
Li’s father:
At parting his
father, a wealthy
Hong Kong
businessman,
told Hirschfeld, “It
is my wish and
my hope that my
son will one day
become the Dr
Hirschfeld of
China.”

15. Li Shiu Tong and
Magnus Hirschfeld
● 1933 – Relationship develops. 40
year age difference.
● Li Shiu moves to Paris to be with
Hirschfeld.
● 1935 – Hirschfeld dies.
● Li Shiu was beneficiary in
Hirschfeld’s will.
Yvonne Gray
Li Shiu Tong and
Magnus Hirschfeld

16. Jane Addams
● 1860- Born in Cedarville IL
● 1881- Graduates Rockford
Female Seminary (valedictorian)
● 1889- Opens Hull House
(Chicago) with Ellen Starr
● Romantic friendship, “marriage”
with Mary Rozet Smith (40 years)
Liz Sturm
Photo or image
goes here.

17. Jane Addams
Achievements
● 1894: co-founds Chicago Federation of
Settlements
● 1895: Appointed Garbage Inspector
● 1903: VP of National Women’s Trade Union
League
● 1905-1908: Member Chicago BOE
● 1909: Early member of NAACP
● 1912: National Convention of the
Progressive Party- 1st woman to address a
national convention of a major party
Liz Sturm
“She’s part of this bigger movement even if it
was a time before the movement existed.
Whether or not we want to put the word on it
… that she was fighting for equality and
acceptance and human rights is undeniable.
And that she valued love is also undeniable.”
-Lena Reynolds, JAHHM educator

18. Jane Addams
● 1915: (WWI) Elected chairwoman of Women’s
Peace Party
● 1915: Co-founder of Women’s International
League for Peace and Freedom
● 1931: Wins Nobel Peace Prize (1st US woman
to win)
● 1935: Dies of cancer - Before death, offered burial
next to Woodrow Wilson in National Cathedral
(DC) but declines.
● 1953: Jane Addams Children’s Book Award
established (peace, SJ, equity, global community)
http://www.janeaddamschildrensbookaward.org
Liz Sturm
Photo or image
goes here.

19. Jane Addams Sources
➢Elementary lesson plan:
https://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/images/JaneAddams-SSYL.pdf
Jane Addams: Raising up the poor- does mention Ellen Starr.
➢Legacy Project- identifies Jane Addams as a lesbian and Mary as the love of
her life:
http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/LPEI_Guides_and_Lesson_Plans/JANE%
20ADDAMS%20LPEI%20Lesson%20Plan%20[VS%20Edit%20-%201].pdf
➢Hull house museum has many resources for teachers:
https://www.hullhousemuseum.org/research/
➢Transcript of letter to Mary Rozet Smith from
http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/hague/doc12.htm
Liz Sturm

20. Comparing the American Family Structures of
West African descendants with West European descendants
by: Nicole DeMatteo, 7/2018
Enslaved African American family European American
Pre-Civil War era family

21. Slavery in the
USA:1608-1865
*Common practice in the USA, approximately
25% of US citizens were slave owners
*Arguably THE most critical component of the
growth of the US as a world power
*Not accepted by all, however-- slave rebellions,
Underground Railroad, abolitionists--follow up
lesson could be on this point
*Freedom arrived in 1863, won in 1865--13th
Amendment
by Nicole DeMatteo, 7/2018
Photo or image
goes here.

22. Handout (primary & secondary source):
“...Slavery was a system of coerced labor, first and foremost.
Interviewed by a Federal Writers Project (FWP) worker in
1937, the elderly former slave Hannah Davidson spoke
reluctantly of her ordeal in Kentucky: ‘The things that my
sister May and I suffered were so terrible...It is best not to
have such things in our memory…. Work, work, work,”
she said; it had consumed all of her days (from dawn until
midnight) and all her years (she was only eight when she
began minding her master’s children and helping the
older women with their spinning). ‘I been so exhausted
working, I was like an inchworm crawling along a roof. I
worked till I thought another lick would kill me.’ On
Sundays, ‘the only time they [the slaves] had to
themselves,’ she recalled, women washed clothes and
some of the men tended their small tobacco patches. As a
child she loved to play in the haystack, but that was
possible only on ‘Sunday evening, after work.’ (Labor of
Love, Labor of Sorrow, by Jacqueline Jones; c. 2010, pg. 13)”
by: Nicole DeMatteo, 7/2018
Photo or image
goes here.
Chattel slavery= the buying
and selling of people as if they
were pieces of property

23. Using the primary
source on
previous slide:
Teacher’s note: I’d use the Depth of
Knowledge levels 1-3 to create a
worksheet of questions--this would
include vocabulary and the definition…
We would read the quote at least 3
times for deeper comprehension.

24. Zora Neale Hurston
By
Whitney Thompson-Tozier
“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but
it does not make me angry. It merely
astonishes me. How can any deny
themselves the pleasure of my company? It's
beyond me.”
-Zora Neale Hurston

25. Zora Neale Hurston: Background and Early Life
-Born 1891 in Alabama but raised primarily in a
rural, Black town Eatonville, Florida
- Her mother’s death at an early age changed her
life’s trajectory.
-Hurston worked menial jobs in her late teens and
early 20’s. At 26 years old, she lied about her age to
go back to school and finish high school. She lied
about her age until she died.
- Her job as a maid to an influential singer in the
Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire company curated a
deep love of theater and the arts that would last a
lifetime.

26. Zora Neale Hurston: Historical Significance and
Literary Contributions
-Hurston became an important contributor to the Harlem
Renaissance after publishing her first book “Their Eyes
Were Watching God” in 1937.
-Friends included Langston Hughes, Ethel Waters, and
Countee Cullen.
-She published four novels and over fifty plays, songs,
short stories, and essays.
-Criticised during her lifetime by other Harlem
Renaissance authors, but celebrated posthumously by
Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou.

27. Zora Neale Hurston: Bibliography
Batker, C. (1998). "Love Me Like I Like to Be": The Sexual Politics of Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God,
the Classic Blues, and the Black Womens Club Movement. African American Review, 32(2), 199.
doi:10.2307/3042119
Boyd, V. (2004). Wrapped in rainbows: The life of Zora Neale Hurston. London: Virago Press.
Resurrecting Zora Neale Hurston | American Masters: Alice Walker. (2015). Retrieved from
https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/wal14.ela.lit.hurston/resurrecting-zora-neale-hurston/#.W05aJtgzo0o
(Great resource for K-12 Teachers on integrating LGBTQIA and POC history into the classroom)
Woodson, J. (1992). Zora Neale Hurstons their Eyes were Watching God and the Influence of Jens Peter Jacobsens
Marie Grubbe. African American Review, 26(4), 619. doi:10.2307/3041875