34. Queers in the Civil Rights Movement

For today’s episode, Leigh is joined by return guest host, Aubree Calvin, to commemorate Black History Month by telling the stories of some folks who made contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s whose queerness has been overlooked or erased, and the ways in which the tremendous work done by Black activists was absolutely essential to the evolution of LGBTQ rights actions. Listen to hear about Freedom Rides organizer Rodney Powell’s epic takedown of Rev. Rick Warren, Ernestine Eckstein’s directions for the homophile movement, and Lorraine Hansberry’s thoughts on Eartha Kitt’s legs.

Our wonderful returning guest host for this episode is our fantastic friend and co-host of Southern Queeries Podcast, Aubree Calvin!

• www.aubreecalvin.com

• Aubree Writes on Facebook

• @BreeinTX on Twitter

Aubree, or Bree to her friends and enemies alike, is a black, queer trans woman on the edge of turning 40. A southerner for most of her life, Aubree has family roots across the south. She loves studying politics, history, and learning about all aspects of queer culture. Aubree started her podcast, Southern Queeries, because she’s tired of society ignoring the south's diverse communities. Professionally, Aubree is a community college government professor and part time writer. When not talking, teaching, or writing, Aubree’s spending her free time with her wonderful wife and daughter.

You can also hear Aubree in our episode on Sister Rosetta Tharpe!

A Closer Look at Queer Folks in the Civil Rights Movement…

Rodney Powell

Rodney Powell’s school photo at St. Joseph’s University

Rodney Powell with his husband, Bob Eddinger, in hawaii

Rodney (standing) at the lunch counter of a Nashville Walgreens in March 1960.

Ernestine Eckstein

Ernestine Eckstein on the cover of the June 1966 edition of The Ladder. Credit: Photo by Kay Lahusen, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Ernestine Eckstein in the White House picket line, October 23, 1965. Her sign reads: “Denial of Equality of Opportunity is Immoral.” Photo by Kay Lahusen, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Ernestine’s class photo at Indiana University, showing her given name.

Ernestine with the Indiana Daily Student newspaper staff at Indiana University

Aaron Henry

Aaron Henry at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, reading from a document while seated before the Credentials Committee.

Brochure from Henry’s 1971 campaign for the Mississippi State Legislature.

Aaron Henry, circa 1980s. Photo from the Erle E. Johnston Jr. Papers, McCain Library and Archives, The University of Southern Mississippi.

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry at her typewriter

Lorraine’s list from age 28 of things in her “Notes on Myself” entries. Check out Dorothy Secules’ name under the “I want”. Image courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the New York Public Library

Lorraine Hansberry with Nina Simone

Below, a video of Nina Simone performing “To Be Young, Gifted and Black”, which was inspired by and written about Lorraine Hansberry.

If you want to learn more about the folks we covered in this episode, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles & Resources:

• Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust

• Freedom Indivisible: Gays and Lesbians in the African American Civil Rights Movement by Jared E. Leighton, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• “Rodney Powell: A Second Fight for Equal Rights” by Jaquetta White

• “A Letter from Rodney Powell, Gay Man Who Helped Lead the Freedom Rides”

• The Civil Rights Collection of the Nashville Public Library

• Across Decades, Rodney Powell ‘57 Fought for Change

• Aaron Henry, Who Speaks for the Negro? Archival Collection

• ”The History Behind Why We Say a Person ‘Came Out of the Closet’” by Olivia B. Waxman

• ”What is the Origin of the Phrase ‘Come Out of the Closet’?” by Arika Okrent

• ”The Double Life of Lorraine Hansberry” (OUT Magazine, September 1999)

• The Quiet Lesbian Biography of Lorraine Hansberry

• ”Lorraine Hansberry’s Gay Politics” by Kai Wright

• “Lorraine Hansberry’s Secret Lesbian Herstory Touched Upon in New Documentary” by Shervin Kayvon

• Lorraine Hansberry: Letters to The Ladder - Illinois History & Lincoln Collections

• “Lorraine Hansberry’s Letters Reveal the Playwright’s Private Struggle” by Melissa Anderson

• “Opening the Restricted Box: Lorraine Hansberry’s Lesbian Writing” by Kevin Mumford

• Wikipedia: Rodney N. Powell

• Wikipedia: Ernestine Eckstein

• “The Importance of Being Ernestine Eckstein, Pioneer in the Early Gay Rights Movement” by Lester Fabian Brathwaite

• “Gay Liberation Needed the Civil Rights Movement” by Michelle Garcia

• Making Gay History: Ernestine Eckstein

Books and Print Articles:

• Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Dr. Imani Perry

• Aaron Henry: The Fire Ever Burning by Aaron Henry, Constance Curry

• Gavins, R. (2016). March on Washington Movement (MOWM). In The Cambridge Guide to African American History (p. 178). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Corrigan, L. (2019). Queering the Panthers: Rhetorical Adjacency and Black/Queer Liberation Politics. In QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking . Vol. 6, Number 2, Summer 2009.

• The Ladder: A Lesbian Review, June 1966 issue

Films/Videos:

• An Open Letter to Pastor Warren by Dr. Rodney Powell

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

33. Besotted with Beefcake: A MichelangelHO Story

In this episode of History is Gay Leigh and guest host Amanda Helton discuss Michelangelo Buonarroti. THE Michelangelo. And we'll get into all the juicy deets you didn't learn in art history class, full of stories of broken noses, the gay art of forgery, big ol’ artist egos, and attempts to answer the question, “what even is a titty”?

But first, let me introduce to you our guest host for this episode, Amanda Helton!

Amanda Helton is a fine arts professional working in Silicon Valley, focusing on digital strategy and museum technology. She is originally from Sevier County, Tennessee (birthplace of Dolly Parton), and HAS MET HER a few times! Amanda holds a Masters Degree in Art History (with a concentration in Museum Training) from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is passionate about connecting the history of art and technology to the present day. Amanda is a sunscreen evangelist, friend to every dog, and co-runs a Xena re-watch group with Leigh! 

You can find more from Amanda on Instagram at @oryxbesia and at www.amandahelton.com!

A Closer Look at Michelangelo…

First, a little bit of background on what art in this period was like! Although the ancient Greeks and the Romans understood how to create an image with convincing depth, frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor clearly show the use of perspectival systems; during the middle ages, art changed to reflect the church. No longer were artists pursuing realism.

Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, ca. 50–40 B.C., Fresco, (Boscoreale, Italy)

Brunelleschi observed that parallel lines appear to converge at a single point in the distance with a single fixed point of view and discovered a method for calculating depth used by painters, sculptors, and architects alike to lend greater realism to their work. One of the first paintings during the Renaissance to fully implement perspective is Holy Trinity by Masaccio. Here, you can see the impression of a false room has been created on a flat wall. The coffers on the ceiling make the orthogonal lines, and the vanishing point is at the base of the cross, which happens to be at the viewer's eye level. This creates the illusion that the space the viewer is looking at is a physical continuation of the space in which they are standing.

Masaccio, Holy Trinity, c. 1427, Fresco, 667 x 317 cm, (Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy)

Here’s some other art we discussed in the episode:

Cardinal Riario commissioned a statue of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine and celebrations. However, the Cardinal didn't like it because Bacchus looked too drunk, LOL, and refused to pay for the work.

Michelangelo, Bacchus. Museo del Bargello, Florence, Italy. 

The David commission was started by two other sculptors who failed and left the marble in an almost unusable condition. In 1501, when Michelangelo took the job, it was impossible to portray David with Goliath's head at his feet (as was traditional) because of the marble's damage. So, he depicted David in the moments before the battle instead. He worked on this project for three years, and it was an incredible success.

Michelangelo, David, 1501-1504, (Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia)

Michelangelo, Moses, 1505-1545, Tomb for Julius II, ( San Pietro in Vincoli (Rome)

Michelangelo’s Moses has horns due to a longstanding tradition of antisemitism in which Jewish people were portrayed as “horned devils administering to Satan.”

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel paintings abound with moments that make you go, WTF is happening here? They attest certainly at least to his awareness of various sexualities. In Last Judgment, on the wall behind the altar and to the left of Christ, are the damned destined for Hell. Among them are two pairs of nearly nude and quite muscular fellows in a lip-locking embrace in addition to an older bearded man staring longingly into the eyes of a younger man.

Michelangelo, Last Judgment, 1534-1541, Sistine Chapel, altar wall, fresco, (Vatican City, Rome)

The poet Pietro Aretino accused Michelangelo of “desecrating the Sistine Chapel by turning it into a whorehouse with his naked figures.”

Detail from Last Judgment

Detail from Last Judgment

Detail from The Last Judgment. Don’t piss off Michelangelo or he might make a snake bite your penis in the underworld and give you donkey ears

If you’d like to see what The Last Judgment looked like prior to Danny the Panty Painter’s censoring, you can check out a copy of it done by Marcello Venusti, one of Michelangelo’s apprentices. This is the best approximation of what the fresco looked like before the addition of loincloths and underwear throughout the following years from its completion.

Pietá, C. 1498-1499, Marble, michelangelo

In the Florentine Pietá sculpture he made later in life, he included a self-portrait representing himself as a Nicodemist. The Nicodemists, active in Italy in the 1540s and early 1550s, showed interest in some of the Protestant reformers' ideas but sought to act within the existing Catholic order, thus preventing schism in the Church. This self-portrayal reinforces existing evidence of Michelangelo's involvement with the Catholic Evangelist Reform movement in Italy.

The Deposition (also called the Florentine Pietá, Bandini Pietà or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ), c. 1547–1555, marble, left unfinished and partially destroyed by Michelangelo, restored by Tiberio Calgagni, (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence)

Detail of The Deposition

In the Renaissance, androgyny was ideal for men and women. Mario Equicola, a Renaissance humanist, wrote in 1525 that ‘the effeminate male and the manly female are graceful in almost every aspect’ – a view commonly held by his peers. There are many examples of iconic androgynous figures in Renaissance art. Take Donatello’s David, who stands leaning, leg forward, with a hand on his hip and a soft, round little belly. Michelangelo’s intense and hyper-idealized androgyny in his Sistine Chapel frescoes may be a reason why his peers found the work so influential.

Donatello, the bronze David, ca 1440, (Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, Italy)

Marble tomb of Giuliano de' Medici by Michelangelo, 1520–34; in the Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo, Florence.

What even is a titty?

Michelangelo’s presentation drawings for Tommaso Cavalieri:

The Punishment of Tityus, Presentation Drawing by Michelangelo

In the myth, the giant Tityus was punished for attempting to rape Lato, Apollo and Diana's mother, by being chained to a rock in Hades. Every day a vulture would rip out his liver, the seat of lust; every night, the liver would grow back, for the torment to be repeated the next day, for all eternity. The drawing could be interpreted as a representation of pining and a love that will never be realized. Since the liver is continuously pecked out only to grow back again for all of eternity and the liver is often referred to as the "seat of the passions," the scene could refer to Michelangelo's unrequited love for Cavalieri.

The Rape of Ganymede, Presentation Drawing by Michelangelo

Ganymede was a cupbearer for Zeus. Zeus fell into such lust for the young cupbearer that he took on the form of an eagle to sweep Ganymede off to Mount Olympus to be with him. Ganymede could represent the young Cavalieri, and the eagle could represent the mature and overpowering Michelangelo, making it a visual representation of Michelangelo's physical desire for Cavalieri.

Many scholars suggest that the figures in Michelangelo’s Victory statue in the tomb of Julius II are modeled on Cavalieri (the standing figure) and Michelangelo (kneeling). It’s hard to miss this statue's obviously erotic elements, depicting Michelangelo between Cavalieri’s legs.

The Genius of Victory (1532–1534), marble, (Palazzo Vecchio, Florence)

If you want to learn more about Michelangelo, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• To Tommaso De' Cavalieri. Love The Light-Giver.

• Androgyny in Renaissance Art 

• Britannica: Michelangelo

• Michelangelo’s Dream (Artwork for Cavalieri)

• Florence and Central Italy, 1400–1600 A.D

• Why Michelangelo’s ‘David’ Is an Icon of the Italian Renaissance

• GLBTQ Archive: European Art: Renaissance

• GLBTQ Archive: Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

• Boscoreale: Frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor

• Letter of Aretino to Michelangelo on the Last Judgement

• Let`s figure it out: could it be that Michelangelo did the Sistine Chapel completely on his own? Were there any helpers?
  

Books and Print Articles:

• Forever Young: A Cultural History of Longevity

• Francese, Joseph. "On Homoerotic Tension in Michelangelo's Poetry." MLN 117, no. 1 (2002): 17-47. 

• The Sonnets of Michelangelo, 1904 Edition

• Shrimplin, Valerie. "Hell in Michelangelo's "Last Judgment"." Artibus Et Historiae 15, no. 30 (1994): 83-107. 

• Renaissance Humanism, from the Middle Ages to Modern Times by John Monfasani

• Summers, Claude J. "Homosexuality and Renaissance Literature, or the Anxieties of Anachronism." South Central Review 9, no. 1 (1992): 2-23. Accessed November 21, 2020. doi:10.2307/3189384.

• Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy 

• Baskins, Cristelle L. "GENDER TROUBLE IN ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ART HISTORY: TWO CASE STUDIES." Studies in Iconography 16 (1994): 1-36. Accessed November 21, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23924090.

• Schwarz, Arturo. "Alchemy, Androgyny and Visual Artists." Leonardo 13, no. 1 (1980): 57-62. Accessed November 21, 2020. doi:10.2307/1577928.

• Friedrichsmeyer, Sara. "The Subversive Androgyne." Women in German Yearbook 3 (1987): 63-75. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688686.

• Eckstein, Bob. The History of the Snowman. United Kingdom: Gallery Books, 2007.

• Trollope, T. Adolphus. "Michelangelo and the Buonnarroti Archives." The North American Review 125, no. 259 (1877): 499-516. 

• Parker, Deborah. "The Role of Letters in Biographies of Michelangelo." Renaissance Quarterly 58, no. 1 (2005): 91-126. 

• Love Sonnets and Madrigals to Tommaso De'Cavalieri by Michelangelo Buonarroti

• Public Domain Poems  by Michelangelo

• The Passions of Michelangelo - Rictor Norton

• Barolsky, Paul. "MICHELANGELO'S EROTIC INVESTMENT." Source: Notes in the History of Art 11, no. 2 (1992): 32-34. Accessed November 21, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23203048.

• Michelangelo and the Label "Homosexual"- Rictor Norton

• Goldberg, Jonathan. Queering the Renaissance 

• Smithers, Tamara. 2016. Michelangelo in the New Millennium: Conversations about Artistic Practice, Patronage and Christianity. Boston: Brill. p. vii. ISBN 978-90-04-31362-0.

• Gayford, Martin (2013). Michelangelo: His Epic Life. London: Penguin UK. ISBN 978-1905490547.

• Chris Ryan, The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Introduction, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 97–99.

• Vittoria Colonna. Sonnets for Michelangelo. Ed. Abigail Brundin. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2005.

• Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo

• J. de Tolnay, The Youth of Michelangelo, p.11

• Gardner’s Art Through the Ages

• Italian Renaissance Art, Laurie Schneider Adams

• Alberti’s Perspective: A New Discovery and a New Evaluation, Samuel Y. Edgerton Jr.

• The life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, based on studies in the archives of the Buonarroti family at Florence by Symonds, John Addington, 1840-1893, 

• Bertman, Stephen. "The Antisemitic Origin of Michelangelo's Horned Moses." Shofar 27, no. 4 (2009): 95-106. Accessed October 18, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42944790.

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!

30. Alan Turing: Computer Daddy

In this episode of History is Gay, Leigh and guest host Maren tackle the father of modern computing, and gay geek hero, Alan Turing! Whether he be sending love-struck letters about astronomy to his high school bestie, riding a bicycle in a gas mask, or completely revolutionizing mathematics and machinery, we’re in awe of Alan. Listen as we talk about his successes and foibles, and how history did this code-breaking, number-crunching badass dirty.

A Closer Look at Alan Turing

Alan at age 16. What a cutie!

One of the Bombes at Bletchley Park. This is what computers used to look like, y’all!

The German’s Enigma machine

Stephen Kettle’s 2007 Alan Turing statue, in Bletchley Park.

As we mentioned in the episode, here is video of Joan Clarke (later Joan Murray), discussing her short-lived engagement to Alan Turing:

If you want to learn more about the Alan Turing, check out our full list of sources and further reading below!

Online Articles:

• Did Alan Turing Have Asperger’s Syndrome?

• The Crime and Punishment of Alan Turing

• Letters Reveal Alan Turing’s Battle with his Sexuality

• Overlooked No More: Alan Turing, Condemned Code Breaker and Computer Visionary

• The Turing Digital Archive (You can see a whole bunch of primary source documents here, including letters written in Alan’s own handwriting!)

Books and Print Articles:

• Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

• The Imitation Game: Alan Turning Decoded by Jim Ottoviani and Leland Purvis

• Queers in History by Keith Stern

• Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present by Neil Miller

• Queer, There, and Everywhere by Sarah Prager

• Who’s Who in Gay & Lesbian History by Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon

Until next time, stay queer and stay curious!