Perceptions and Connections

I believe that the different perspectives that people can offer when studying history are one of the field’s best features. That being said, for a long time, we did not have many different perspectives, especially academically. The chance for someone with my background to make historical arguments was one of my main reasons for studying history. I am the oldest daughter of my parents. I have a white mother and a black father. Ethnically, I am Italian-American, African-American, and Native-American. However, depending on the person, I can be just white, Puerto-Rican, Ecuadorian, or Swedish. My parents voted for Obama in 2008 and have been politically conscious for most of my life. They are registered democrats. For as long as I can remember my dad told me that everything I learned in school was a lie, especially about history. As I got older I understood what he meant. Maybe not complete lies, but heavily misconstrued. I went to a school that started as predominantly white and gradually got more diverse over time. At times I still felt excluded from both groups. I was also one of the only queer minorities at my school. My family is not religious. My mom says that we are not rich, but we get by fine. I have had cats all my life. For me, making connections with the past helps me better understand the position I was born into, and how I can use that unique perspective to uplift those with similar stories. Exploring the racism in the LGBTQ community is a chance to further investigate the intersectionality between identities, something I think few people understand unless they experience it. I’d like to understand how the black queer communities were treated in the past and make connections to the community currently.