In Their Own Words 

By Alexandra McLaughlin ’16

Students explore the richness of queer and trans lives through oral histories and archival research.

“The inaccuracies in people’s memory is actually one of the things that makes oral history valuable, as it allows us to ask why this person or group of people remembered a series of events differently than they happened.” —Leah Long ’25 

What makes a person who they are? In Prof. Myrl Beam’s course, Telling Queer and Trans Stories: Oral History as Method and Practice, students dig into the complexities of queer and trans lives, challenging the flat portrayals often seen in media. 

“Even the good representation is missing a lot of richness, specificity, and weirdness that makes us human—our fears and joys and desires, our friendships, our political organizing, our intense feelings about our cats,” Prof. Beam said. 

The course combines oral history methodology with hands-on work in partnership with the Tretter Transgender Oral History Project. Students contribute to “The Long Fire at Lake and Minnehaha,” a collaborative research project combining oral histories and archival research to explore the layered history of this South Minneapolis intersection. 

Themes include policing, environmental racism, Native activism, homelessness, anti-trans violence, and the activist communities formed in response. Students contribute to a growing digital archive documenting the history and activism in these neighborhoods.

“Oral history gives a capacious, rich specificity to queer and trans lives,” Dr. Beam said. “It also offers connection.”

Past students have interviewed prominent figures, including a national journalist and Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke, the first openly transgender member of the Minnesota legislature.  

Leah Long ’25 (Omaha, Neb.) said the class sharpened her skills as a researcher, writer, and historian. An unexpected insight came from exploring memory and its inaccuracies.

“The inaccuracies in people’s memory is actually one of the things that makes oral history valuable, as it allows us to ask why this person or group of people remembered a series of events differently than they happened,” she said. 

For Bernadette Whitely ’26 (Orono, Minn.), the course emphasized the importance of centering participants’ voices. “Queer and trans stories in the media are often framed around tragedy, which can be harmful,” they said. “This course focuses on the power of people telling their own stories, rather than it being extracted and told for them. Hearing people’s stories told through their voice—literally their voice—is really important.” 

Alex Sonnabend ’27 (Potomac, Md.) interviewed four people they had admired for a long time, including folks involved in reproductive justice, trans-specific tattooing, and disability activism. 

“These interviews went places I didn’t expect, like a tangent about the mutable sex of chickens,” Sonnabend said. “You get the whole of someone—their experiences, but also what makes them a person.” 

Sonnabend appreciated the class’s welcoming environment: “It introduced me to some of my best friends and mentors.” 

As students complete their oral histories, they share clips with the class—such as “What were lessons you learned the hard way?” 

“It’s rare to sit down and really listen to someone’s life story,” Whitely said. “It’s fascinating.”