Modern Era search strategies
The Modern Era is defined as the late 18th century to 1991. The Modern Era has 4 categories: Industrial Revolution (Late 18th century CE to 19th century CE), World War I (1914 to 1918), Interwar Period (1918 to 1939), World War II (1939 to 1945), and the Cold War (1947 to 1991). The Modern Era sees the development of some of the modern terms that are still in use today. Researching lesbianism in this era will be significantly easier than previous eras because of increased visibility and better documentation
Suggested terms:
- butch
- femme
- bulldagger OR bulldyke
- industrial
- post-war
- pre-war
- lesbian
Resources to check out
This video essay is a really great deep dive into the lesbian communities in Paris during the Interwar Period. It is important to understand the big picture as well as some of the smaller details and this video allowed for a glimpse into a small aspect of queer life in this specific time and place. The video has a surprisingly good production quality for an independent creator and she cited all her sources in the end credits. The drawback of the video is that it has a very limited scope due to the fact that it focuses on a very specific group at a very specific moment in time.
- The Gateways club and the emergence of a post-Second World War lesbian subculture
This article is a really interesting look into how the lesbian bar subculture developed in post World war II Britain. It is an interesting look into how Britain's lesbian subculture was developing concurrently with the US' lesbian bar subculture. The article looks at how the subculture developed into what it was and what life was like for the people in the culture. The drawbacks of this article is that it does have a quite limited scope and I was hoping to see racism in the community addressed as well.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by ISBN: 0525555250Publication Date: 2021-01-19This is the only fiction book I have included in this guide, but it touches on a lot of subjects in a really meaningful way. The book is a historical fiction set in the post World War II era of McCarthyism, the Red Scare, the Lavender Scare, and the lesbian bar subculture and it explores all these issues dutifully and in ways that teaches you exactly what is like for marginalized groups in this era. The drawback is that it is a fiction book so it is not the most reputable source, but it does inspire you to learn more about the era.
- From Lavender Menace to Queer Nation: the transformation of lesbian identity in the baby boom era
This insightful article explores how the politics of the 1960's and 1970's shaped lesbian identities and feminist movements played a huge role in that. This article explored the role lesbians played in politics and how that shaped the category of lesbian and how that continues to develop today. A drawback of the article is that it does not address the transphobia of the lesbian feminist movements.
This documentary details showcase the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights and the contributing factors that led to this incredibly large march. This documentary is very powerful as it showcases firsthand experiences of the people of the time, the hardships they experienced, and what they fought for to give gay people better lives. The drawbacks of the article is the lack of discussion on transgender people who were involved in the movement.