The queer presence in the South has been made invisible for too long. The time has come to recover this history, as Summersell students unearth the story of the queer student movement at the University of Alabama and across the state.
Delving deep into the manuscript collections at the University of Alabama and Birmingham Public Library, students reconstruct the struggle for rights, visibility, and sexual equality for queer students at universities across Alabama. The core of this project involves taking oral histories of the early leaders of the queer civil rights movement. With this research, students shed new light on the birth and development of this fight for equality.
The University of Alabama’s Summersell Center for the Study of the South promotes excellence in teaching and research about the American South. Under Director Dr. John Giggie, the Center works to create new and innovative research opportunities for undergraduates. In its work with undergraduates and graduate students, the Center strives to train students to become public intellectuals. It encourages them to create research projects in close collaboration with community partners and blends traditional historical methods with skills in social media, digital humanities, and metadata analysis.
The Center works closely with community partners to develop its research and democratize its findings.