136 www.blackeoejournal.com Black EOE Journal
The Importance of Telling LGBTQ+ Stories
T
here are numerous stories of LGBTQ+ excellence, pride, perseverance and success throughout history, but many of these stories have been presented with little and sometimes even inaccurate information. To combat these, researchers across various backgrounds have come together to work with Wikipedia in making these stories as accurate, plentiful and accessible as possible. The Black EOE Journal sat down with one of these experts, Christina Carney to speak about the importance of telling LGBTQ+ stories:
Black EOE Journal ( BEOEJ ):
Whats your background and what made you interested or excited to take part in this project?
Christina Carney (CC):
I am an assistant professor of Black Queer Sexuality Studies at the University of Missouri in Columbia. I received my Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, San Diego and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. I grew up in a Black working-class neighborhood, Bronzeville, on the South Side of Chicago. Overall, my work examines Black womens sex work in militarized zones. My book, Disreputable Women: Militarized Deviance and the Black Sexual Economy of San Diego , is currently under review at the University of California Press. I learned about the Wiki Education project while attending the annual American Studies Association (ASA) conference a while back. I wanted to find new ways to improve my teaching pedagogy and creativity in the classroom. I knew that students were bored with traditional papers and exams as well as in-class group work. After talking to the Wiki Education rep at ASA and reading more information online, I became very excited about not only the fun students would have doing the project, but also the fact that I would be learning new skills as well. Learning with my students has been the best part. At the end of the semester, we all, including myself, present our projects to each other. I presented on a new article I developed, United States v. Ingalls (1947), which detailed the first Black women who were able to seek redress for sexual trafficking in the 20th century. I also updated another two articles - Mann Act and White Slavery. This Wiki project not only assisted students with the opportunity to include Black and Feminist Studies scholarship on Wikipedia, but, at the same time, add reliable information that is accessible to a wider audience!
JOE MARTINEZ
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