ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Georgia Transgender Oral History Project will gather and preserve stories, memories, and histories with trans and gender diverse people and allies who live/lived in Georgia, or who have participated in activities that affect Georgia.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
Anyone who is trans and/or gender diverse is welcome to participate as an interviewee in the first phase of the project. Thereafter, we would also like to interview allies. If you are not trans and/or gender diverse, but would like to assist with this project, your volunteer energy would be greatly appreciated!
We need help with:
HOW WILL THE INTERVIEWS BE ACCESSED?
Depending on the wishes of the participants, interviews will be transcribed. Transcripts and available audio and/or video will be made available via the Library's Digital Collections website.
Morna Gerrard (she/her)
Morna Gerrard is the Women’s / Gender & Sexuality Collections Archivist in Special Collections and Archives at the Georgia State University Library. She serves on the National Center for Civil and Human Rights’ LGBTQ Institute Advisory Board, the Historic Atlanta LGBTQ HPAC board, and from 2011-2018, was the vice president of the Georgia LGBTQ Archives Project. She has published a number of articles and chapters, including, “No Fame Required: Collaboration, Community, and the LGBTQ Archives Project,” in Appraisal and Acquisition: Innovative Practices for Archives and Special Collections, “Exploring Gender Roles in Society, Literature, and Film,” in Gender Studies in the Library: Case Studies, Programming, Outreach, and "ACTing UP Down South," in the Alexander Street Press Women and Social Movements in the U.S., 1600-Present electronic journal.
AC Panella (he/him, they/them)
AC Panella is a doctoral candidate at Union Institute and University. He is in the humanities concentration and is getting certificates in museum studies and educational leadership. As a trans activist and teacher, he has worked on a variety of projects including the Trans Leadership Academy, The LA Trans Health Coalition, and has been an advisor to queer student organizations for 15 years. His research is focused on trans collective memory and history as it’s represented in visual and material culture. When he isn’t nose-deep in research, he is a full-time teacher, pet parent, and truncle (Trans-Uncle) to a super adorable three-year-old. This year, he will defend his dissertation on the role San Francisco’s Compton Cafeteria Uprising has on trans memory.
The following individuals have generously provided advice and support for this project:
E.R. Anderson (they/them, he/him)
E.R. Anderson is a queer Southern writer, bookseller, and editor from Atlanta, Georgia. Anderson is the Executive Director of Charis Circle, the non-profit programming arm of Charis Books and More, the nation’s oldest and largest feminist bookstore. Anderson’s novel in progress, Paradise Park, tells the story of the Turners, an Evangelical Catholic family of six, who operate a sin and salvation-themed amusement park in Alapaha, Georgia. When not writing, Anderson is a recovering academic, lazy athlete, and a serious lover of bulldogs, cooking, and the Atlanta Braves.
William Fratus Britto
William Britto is a native of Durham, North Carolina, graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) with a bachelor of music in education. While at UNCG, he served as a resident hall advisor, peer academic leader, and president of the university’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). William also served as an orientation coordinator, often facilitating training and workshops for incoming students with a focal point of student success and identity. Upon moving to the Atlanta Metropolitan area in 2013, William taught in the Cobb County School District.
Ashby Combahee (he/him and she/her) is a memory worker based in Atlanta, GA. In addition to being an interviewer and advisor for the Georgia State Transgender Oral History Project, Ashby holds a full-time position as a librarian/archivist at the Highlander Research and Education Center. Ashby is also the co-founder of Georgia Dusk, a southern liberation oral history project connecting the intersections of Black movement and cultural work in Atlanta, GA across generations. Ashby holds a B.A. from Bennington College and is completing an M.A. in Education at Goddard College.
Tracee McDaniel (she/her) is the founder and Executive Director of the Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, an advocacy, consulting and social services organization specifically designed to empower the trans and gender non-conforming community. In 2013, Tracee published Transitions: Memoirs of a Transsexual Women, and 2014, she became a vetted trainer for the United States Department of Justice CRS program, "Law Enforcement and Transgender Community," which educates federal law enforcement officers how to better interact with Trans people. In 2015, Tracee was invited to brief the White House about employment and economic equity at its Trans Women of Color History Month Briefing. In 2016, she was appointed to serve on the Atlanta Citizen Review Board.
Tracee organized Atlanta's annual Trans Day of Rememberance Vigils for ten years. She also served on the Trans Housing Atlanta Program's board of directors, the Center for Civil and Human Rights LGBTQ Institute Advisory Board, and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' TLGBQI Advisory Council. In 2020, Tracee was recognized in a resolution from the Georgia House of Representatives, when she received the Yellow Rose Nikki T. Randall Servant Leadership Award.
AC Panella (he/him, they/them)
AC Panella is a doctoral candidate at Union Institute and University. He is in the humanities concentration and is getting certificates in museum studies and educational leadership. As a trans activist and teacher, he has worked on a variety of projects including the Trans Leadership Academy, The LA Trans Health Coalition, and has been an advisor to queer student organizations for 15 years. His research is focused on trans collective memory and history as it’s represented in visual and material culture. When he isn’t nose-deep in research, he is a full-time teacher, pet parent, and truncle (Trans-Uncle) to a super adorable three-year-old. This year, he will defend his dissertation on the role San Francisco’s Compton Cafeteria Uprising has on trans memory.
Anna Woten (she/her) is an LGBTQIA+ advocate and museum professional, working internationally with cultural institutions to further trans and queer inclusion within cultural spaces. Anna received a Masters of Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University. Within the U.S., she has served as founding Co-chair of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) LGBTQ+ Alliance Task Fore for Transgender Inclusion, Chairperson of the AAM LGBTQ+ Alliance Professional Network, and has served on AAM's National Program Committee three times. Anna currently lives in Tennessee with her partner Jenn (they/them) and their very fluffy cat, River, where she is Curator of Collections and Registrar at Customs House Museum and Cultural Center.
Ashby Combahee (he/him and she/her) is a memory worker based in Atlanta, GA. In addition to being an interviewer and advisor for the Georgia State Transgender Oral History Project, Ashby holds a full-time position as a librarian/archivist at the Highlander Research and Education Center. Ashby is also the co-founder of Georgia Dusk, a southern liberation oral history project connecting the intersections of Black movement and cultural work in Atlanta, GA across generations. Ashby holds a B.A. from Bennington College and is completing an M.A. in Education at Goddard College.
Tracee McDaniel (she/her) is the founder and Executive Director of the Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, an advocacy, consulting and social services organization specifically designed to empower the trans and gender non-conforming community. In 2013, Tracee published Transitions: Memoirs of a Transsexual Women, and 2014, she became a vetted trainer for the United States Department of Justice CRS program, "Law Enforcement and Transgender Community," which educates federal law enforcement officers how to better interact with Trans people. In 2015, Tracee was invited to brief the White House about employment and economic equity at its Trans Women of Color History Month Briefing. In 2016, she was appointed to serve on the Atlanta Citizen Review Board..
Tracee organized Atlanta's annual Trans Day of Rememberance Vigils for ten years. She also served on the Trans Housing Atlanta Program's board of directors, the Center for Civil and Human Rights LGBTQ Institute Advisory Board, and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' TLGBQI Advisory Council. In 2020, Tracee was recognized in a resolution from the Georgia House of Representatives, when she received the Yellow Rose Nikki T. Randall Servant Leadership Award.
Amari "Mari" McGee (he/him) is an LGBTQ+ professional speaker, educator, activist, life coach/consultant, and content creator. During his professional career, Mari has been featured in Canva, USA Today, and PinkNews. He delivers educational and inspirational keynote presentations that focus on gender identity empowerment, transgender history, and family acceptance. Mari is a transgender man who, after years of gender dysphoria, decided to dedicate his life to educating and empowering the next generation of trans youth and young adults. As an inspirational speaker, educator, and consultant; Mari also brings over 5 years of experience as a transgender activist to his work.
AC Panella (he/him, they/them)
Very few people have two PHDs. AC Panella holds a Ph.D. from Union, as well as being a Professor of Hot Dog (P.H.D.). His forthcoming book is titled Our Transcestors Lived Here, a look at trans collective memory. Panella's research sits at the intersections of trans/gender, museum, and communication studies. His dissertation focused on trans collective memory as represented in visual culture and the built environment, centering on the San Francisco Trans Cultural District. He is a communication professor at Santa Rosa Junior College and started his career as an activist and organizer. He has worked on a variety of social justice projects, including ones related to urban planning, trans identity, undocumented rights, the environment, and labor.
When it comes to higher education, Panella has worked in professional development and student services and has a passion for connecting students to their larger community. In the area of museum and archives studies, he works with the Union Institute & Museum Studies Collective and is part of Georgia State University's Trans Oral History Project. When he isn't square-eyed from living on Zoom, he is teaching himself a ridiculous hobby, and is a pet parent and a truncle (Trans-Uncle) to two super adorable kids.
He believes if life is a story, to make it a good one.
SJ Dillon (they/them)
SJ Dillon is a PhD candidate in anthropology at Emory University and originally from Atlanta, Georgia. They are currently researching nonbinary and transgender experiences of gender dysphoria and gender euphoria and are interested in exploring if these are cultural and potentially racialized experiences, rather than simply 'universal' ones, the way they can often be understood and represented. Their dissertation focuses on discourses of gender dysphoria in legal, medical, and queer contexts in Atlanta, Georgia, and SJ is especially interested in investigating gender within the anti-Black settler colonial history of the United States. Currently, they do not have a life outside of their dissertation, but when they do, they enjoy painting, photography, studying Urdu, roller-skating (mostly falling down if they're being honest). and spending time outside.
Jude Romines (he/they)
Jude Romines is a library worker based outside Nashville with an interest in archives and Southern queer history. He is completing a library sciences degree at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, and he is excited to learn and grow as an intern with the Transgender Oral History Project. In his downtime, Jude can be found volunteering for various preservation efforts in Tennessee and beyond. He enjoys making zines, reading science fiction, and playing every trans-authored browser game on the internet.
Special Collections and Archives
Gender and Sexuality Collections: Subject Guide
Phone: (404) 413-2880
E-Mail: archives@gsu.edu
Mailing Address:
Special Collections & Archives
Georgia State University Library
100 Decatur Street, SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3202
In Person:
Library South, 8th floor
