Joan Howarth on Lesbian History

Ipse Dixit

In this episode, Joan Howarth, Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law and Dean Emerita of Michigan State University College of Law, discusses her article "First and Last Chance: Looking for Lesbians in Fifties Bar Cases," which is published in the Souther California Review of Law and Women's Studies. Howarth begins by discussing the cases and archival records she used to tell the stories of lesbians living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s. She reflects on the dehumanizing language police, prosecutors, and judges used to describe gay people at the time, and how the cases still preserve a valuable record of the lives and experiences of gay people. She also discusses the process of archival research and how it can helpfully inform legal scholarship. Howarth is on Twitter at @JoanHowarth1.

This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye.

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