Transcendentalism is Super Queer
Where can we find evidence of queer and trans lives in the 19th century? And what do we do when the evidence is missing?
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Samuel Longfellow’s journal - note remnants of sealing wax.
Courtesy of Reverend Samuel Longfellow Papers, Longfellow House - Washington’s Headquarters NHS.
In our second episode, host Joan Ilacqua is joined by historian Meaghan Michel to discuss the queer connections of Reverend Samuel Longfellow, and journalist Arielle Grey to explore why the absence of evidence doesn’t mean the absence of a Black queer past.
Queer Boston’s Pursuit of Happiness is produced with the support of Mass Humanities through the Expand Massachusetts Stories program - thanks Mass Humanities!
Show notes:
For more of Arielle Grey’s work, visit https://ariellesgray.substack.com/ and https://www.wbur.org/inside/staff/arielle-gray.
For more of Jake Sconyers work, visit: https://www.hubhistory.com/.
Huge thanks to: Jake Sconyers, the Podcast Working Group (especially Theo, Meaghan, and Emma!), Meaghan Michel, Arielle Grey, Mik Hamilton, Matisse DuPont, and Mass Humanities!
Bibliography:
Bost, Darius, and C. Riley Snorton. A Black Queer History of the United States. Boston: Beacon Press, 2026. https://www.beacon.org/A-Black-Queer-History-of-the-United-States-P2644.aspx.
Bronski, Michael. A Queer History of the United States: Revised and Expanded. Boston: Beacon Press, 2026. https://www.beacon.org/A-Queer-History-of-the-United-States-P2489.aspx.
Ferentinos, Susan. Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/interpreting-lgbt-history-at-museums-and-historic-sites-9780759123748/.
Gura, Philip F. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. “Transcendentalism and Social Reform.” https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/transcendentalism-and-social-reform.
Hardesty, Jared. American Association of African American Intellectual History and Culture. “Slavery and Emancipation in New England: A Bibliography.” https://www.aaihs.org/slavery-and-emancipation-in-new-england-a-bibliography/.
Massachusetts Historical Society. “The Legal End of Slavery in Massachusetts.” African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts. https://www.masshist.org/features/endofslavery/end_MA.
Massachusetts Historical Society. “William and Ellen Craft and the Transatlantic Battle for Civil Rights in the Nineteenth Century.” https://www.masshist.org/events/william-and-ellen-craft-and-transatlantic-battle-civil-rights-nineteenth-century.
Middleton, Margaret. “Looking for Queer Possibility.” https://www.margaretmiddleton.com/blog/looking-for-queer-possibility.
Middleton, Margaret. Looking for Queer Possibility in the Museum. 2022. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/664b958ee5f0be670f887756/t/6655bcec45747e6cd512b621/1716894958257/Looking+For+Queer+Possibility.pdf
Middleton, Margaret. “Queer Possibility.” Journal of Museum Education 45, no. 4 (2020): 426–436. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/664b958ee5f0be670f887756/t/6654a978d7d0cb311aebd95a/1716824441479/Queer+Possibility.pdf
McCaskill, Barbara. Love, Liberation, and Escaping Slavery: William and Ellen Craft in Cultural Memory. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2015. https://www.ugapress.org/9780820347240/love-liberation-and-escaping-slavery/.
National Park Service: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. “An Era of Romantic Friendships: Sumner, Longfellow, and Howe.” https://www.nps.gov/articles/an-era-of-romantic-friendships-sumner-longfellow-and-howe.htm.
National Park Service: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. “"A Sacrifice of Inclination.”https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/a-sacrifice-of-inclination-samuel-longfellow.htm.
National Park Service: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. “Samuel Longfellow.” https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/samuel-longfellow.htm.
Robb, Graham. Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003. https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393326499.
Royall House and Slave Quarters. “Slavery.” https://royallhouse.org/slavery/.
Singleton, Kyera. “Telling Uncomfortable Histories.” Royall House and Slave Quarters, May 2020. https://royallhouse.org/telling-uncomfortable-histories/.
Snorton, C. Riley. Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017. https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517901738/black-on-both-sides/.
Stryker, Susan. Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution. 2nd ed. New York: Seal Press, 2017. https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019-03-17_5c8eb1ebaced4_susan-stryker-transgender-history2.pdf.
The History Project. Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. https://archive.org/details/improperbostonia00barn.
Woo, Ilyon. Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom. New York: 37 Ink, 2023. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Master-Slave-Husband-Wife/Ilyon-Woo/9781501191053.
Primary Sources
Craft, Ellen, and William. Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or, The Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. London: William Tweedie, 1860. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/runningthousandm00craf.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Essays. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1876. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/emersonralessays00emerrich.
National Park Service: Longfellow House - Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. “Finding Aid to the Reverend Samuel Longfellow Papers.” https://www.nps.gov/long/learn/historyculture/upload/RevSL-Finding-Aid-V3-1.pdf
