Thesis
Midwest Drag: Black Community, Resistance, And Perseverance
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
05/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006927
Abstract
Drag, now a staple of queer expression in the public eye, originated in newly formed Black American urban communities at the turn of the 20th century. Coming together as the Great Migration brought millions of Black Americans into northern cities, Black communities faced an unwelcoming, white supremacist society. Drag balls, first documented as early as 1869, offered a space to challenge social and legal gender constructs put in place by this white supremacist society, as well as a community building opportunity. Though this development is largely attributed to larger cities and communities, namely Harlem, New York, drag culture flourished in cities across the American Midwest. Utilizing queer, Black, gender, and legal histories, this project interrogates the creation of drag in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. This examination is concerned with drag culture’s implications regarding social understandings of gender, how it challenged gender norms and white supremacy in the first half of the 20th century, and the safe space it offered to Black Americans, queer or not. “Midwest Drag” argues that Black Americans, settling in the north during the Great Migration, founded and formed of a distinct drag culture as a safe space for queer persons to express themselves and build community. Drag spaces existed in opposition to white supremacy and its ideas of Black gender and sexuality, operating as a form of resistance, but ultimately positioning gender non-conformance as something to be consumed. This narrative offers an invaluable perspectives and lessons in both its successes and failures, showing avenues of resistance and perseverance, but also the dangers and challenges of public queer existence.
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Details
- Title
- Midwest Drag
- Creators
- Mackenzie Renae Deppe
- Contributors
- L Heidenreich (Chair)Peter Boag (Committee Member)Luz Maria Gordillo (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of History
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 112
- Identifiers
- 99901125940101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis