LGBTQ History of Colonial Williamsburg
Student Illustrator: Alexander Drozdovitch
Student Author: Morgan Kociol
LGBTQ history has long been ignored, but in recent years historians and people interested in history have demanded accurate historical records of museums, such as the Colonial Williamsburg. Front-line staff members at Colonial Williamsburg petitioned to have the attraction depict a more accurate idea of what all colonial people experienced. “Human beings who operate outside of sexual and gender expectations have always existed within and contributed to our history,” said Beth Kelly, Vice President of the Education, Research and Historical Interpretation Division of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The history in question would cover the happenings of the 18th century: cases of anti-LGBTQ court filings, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, and important figures of LGBTQ history. The Colonial Williamsburg museum is studying how queer history impacts how we think of history today, how queer people existed throughout history and the impact of queer people and events on today’s society. Queer theory is an interdisciplinary approach to sexuality studies that identifies and questions Western society’s rigid splitting of gender into male and female roles. LGBTQ history is not taught at most school systems, and due to homophobia, queer people are distorted by cultural biases. Cultural Bias has kept queer history incomplete, creating holes or patches where a lot of information was distorted. Spectators and historians in Williamsburg are demanding and researching the holes in queer history. As cultural norms change at other historical sites such as Monticello and Mount Vernon after museum goers demanded more accurate depictions of slavery, this makes possible more accurate examinations of LGBT history. Representation in history is very important for the people of a culture. A common phrase is that ‘history is written by the winners’, so if history is written to accurately depict reality the winners would shift.
This is part of the Annual Poster Session, a collaboration between the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice Department and the Media Arts and Technologies Department, featuring work by social science and illustration students.