Cookie Woolner: queer historian, researcher, and author.
Associate Professor of History, University of Memphis
CV
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Education
- Ph.D. History and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan
- M.A. Humanities, San Francisco State University
- B.A. Cultural Studies and Gender Studies, Hampshire College
Fellowships, Grants and Awards
Honorable Mention, Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize, Association of Black Women Historians, 2024.
Finalist, Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction, Publishing Triangle, 2024.
Professional Development Assignment (research sabbatical), College of Arts and Sciences, University of Memphis, Fall 2020.
Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Memphis, finalist, Spring 2020.
Marcus Orr Center for the Humanities Freeburg Fellow, University of Memphis, Spring 2019.
Mid-South LGBTQ+ Archive, Community of Research Scholars Grant, University of Memphis, 2018- 2019.
University of Memphis College of Arts & Sciences Travel Enrichment Award, Spring 2018.
Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Women, Gender, and Sexuality and Social Justice, Kalamazoo College, 2015-16.
African American Studies Postdoctoral Fellow, History Department, Case Western Reserve University, 2014-15.
Institute for the Humanities Graduate Student Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2013-2014.
Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2013-2014 (declined).
The Black Metropolis Research Consortium Short-Term Fellowship in African American Studies, University of Chicago, July 2012.
Hans Lenneberg Fellow, Robert L. Platzman Memorial Fellowship, Special Collections, University of Chicago, 2012-13 (declined).
Rackham Humanities Research Dissertation Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2012-2013.
Rackham Centennial Spring/Summer Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2012.
Martin Duberman Visiting Scholar, New York Public Library, 2011.
Community of Scholars Fellowship Program, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, 2011.
African American Collections Fellowship, Manuscript, Archive, and Rare Book Library, Emory University, 2010.
Arts of Citizenship Public Humanities Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2010 (declined).
Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant, University of Michigan, 2009.
Research Award Fellowship from the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, 2009.
Rackham Merit Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2007-2012.
Most Outstanding Student in the Humanities M.A. Program, SFSU, 2006-2007.
Edward B. Kaufmann Scholarship, SFSU, 2005 and 2006.
Publications in Progress
“The Rise of Queer Cultures in Urban America at the Turn of the Century,” The Cambridge History of Sexuality in the United States. Jen Manion and Nicholas Syrett, eds. (Cambridge University Press).
“‘Blessed Are the Barren:’ Black Queer Women’s Critiques of Motherhood and Reproduction in the First Anti-Lynching Plays,” New Directions in US Family History. Sarah Potter, ed. (Routledge).
“Unfortunate Attachments:” Interracial Sapphism in Progressive Era Reformatories and Prisons,” The Nursing Clio Reader. (Rutgers University Press – Critical Issues in Health and Medicine series).
Publications
The Famous Lady Lovers: Black Women and Queer Desire before Stonewall (University of North Carolina Press, September 2023).
Book review of Jen Manion’s Female Husbands: A Trans History (Cambridge, 2020), Journal of Canadian History, Dec. 2022.
“Gay Harlem” entry, The People’s Guide to New York City. Emily Molina, Penny Lewis, and Carolina Bank Munoz, eds. University of California Press, 2022.
Book review of LaShawn Harris’ Sex Workers, Psychics, and Number Runners: Black Women in New York City’s Underground Economy (Illinois, 2016), Journal of African American History, Vol. 104, No. 1, Winter 2019, pp. 127-129.
“LGBT – a Historiographical Survey,” The Routledge History of the 20th Century United States. Darren Dochuk and Jerald Podair, eds. Routledge, 2018.
“‘Woman Slain in Queer Love Brawl:’ African American Women, Same-Sex Desire, and Violence in the 1920s Urban North,” The Journal of African American History special issue, “Gendering the Carceral State: African American Women, History, and Criminal Justice.” Cheryl Hicks and Kali Gross, editors. Vol. 100, No. 3, Summer 2015.
“American Excess: Cultural Representations of Lillian Russell in Turn-of-the-Century America,” Historicizing Fat in Anglo-American Culture, ed. Elena Levy-Navarro. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2010.
View the article as a PDF. © OSU Press 2010
Papers Presented
“State of the Field: LGBTQ U.S. History,” virtual roundtable panel, Organization of American Historians, April 2021.
“Blessed Are the Barren: Black Queer Women’s Critiques of Motherhood and Reproduction in the Early 20th Century,” Queer History Conference, San Francisco State University, June 2019.
“The Black Queer Possibilities of Southern Vaudeville,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Sacramento, CA, April 2018.
“Framing Women in Harlem: Regulating Black Women’s Sexuality in the Prohibition Underworld,” American Society for Legal History Conference, Las Vegas, CA, 2017.
“The Black Queer Possibilities of Southern Vaudeville,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Sacramento, CA, April 2018.
“Difficult Conversations in Lesbian History: A Roundtable Discussion,” Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders, and Sexualities, Hofstra University, June 2017.
“A Very Enjoyable Stay in Gay Paree:”African American Women Performers and Queer Interracial Circuits in the Jazz Age,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, January 2016.
“Women’s Queer Labor and Resistance in the Black Popular Entertainment Industry of the Early-Twentieth Century,” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, October 2015.
“‘Woman Slain in Queer Love Brawl:’African American Women and Same-Sex Violence in the Early Great Migration,” Organization of American Historians Annual Conference, St. Louis, April 2015.
“‘My Music Is All Little Queer Things:’ Memoirs and Case Studies of African American Women Performers Who Loved Women, 1915-1940,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, New York City, January 2015.
“‘Only Women Were Present:’ Space and Place in African American Women’s Same-Sex Behavior in the 1920s,” American Historical Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, January 2013.
“‘Have We a New Sex Problem Here?’ The Great Migration and the Emergence of African American ‘Women Lovers,’” Intersections: Black Queer Sexuality Studies Graduate Student Conference, Princeton University, October 2012.
“‘Never No Wells of Lonelinesses in Harlem:’ African American ‘Lady Lovers’ and Sexual Knowledge in 1920s New York,” Queer Places, Practices, and Lives Conference, Ohio State University, May 2012.
“‘Ethel Must Not Marry:’ Black Swan Records and the ‘Queer’ Classic Blues Women,” International Association for the Study of Popular Music Conference, New York University, March 2012.
“The Classic Blues Women on Tour in the Jim Crow South and Strategies of Resistance,” Sarah Lawrence College Women’s History Conference, March 2012.
“‘Where’s That Partner of Mine?’ The Queer Performances of Ethel Waters and Ethel Williams,” National Women’s Studies Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 2011.
“‘I Used to Weigh 200:’ Race, Gender and the Body in the Career of Bessie Smith,” Community of Scholars Symposium, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, October 2011.
“The Marketing of Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey’s ‘Prove It on Me Blues’ and Dialectics of Queer Popular Culture,” Berkshire Conference of Woman Historians, University of Massachusetts–Amherst, June 2011 (panel organizer).
“‘The Famous Lady Lovers:’ African-American Female Performers and the Terminology of Same-Sex Desire in the Early-Twentieth Century,” New Perspectives on African American History and Culture Conference, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, February 2011.
“Beau Brummells and Bulldaggers: African American Male Impersonators in the Early-Twentieth Century,” American Historical Association annual meeting, Boston, January 2011.
“The Queer Blues Women and the Turn from Lesbian History,” Doing Queer Studies Now Conference, University of Michigan, October 2010.
“The Black Venus: The Transgressive Performance of Cakewalker Dora Dean,” Bodies in Motion: Diaspora, Difference & Discursive Performances conference, University of Michigan, March 2008.
“American Excess: Lillian Russell on the Turn of the Century Stage,” National Popular Culture/American Culture Association conference, San Francisco, March 2008.
“In Beef We Trust: The Spectacle of Fat Women in Turn of the Century Burlesque,” Midwest Popular Culture/American Culture Association conference, Indianapolis, October 2006.
Teaching
University of Memphis, 2016-
US History Since 1877
History of Women in America
Queer American History
Selling Sound: The Cultural History of American Music
History of Gender and Popular Culture
Women and Gender Historiography (graduate class)
Studies After 1877: US Cultural History (graduate class)
Popular American Music and Performance (graduate class)
Research Seminar (graduate class)
2015-16: Lecturer, Kalamazoo College
Intro to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Black Queer History
Winter 2015: Lecturer, Case Western Reserve University
Race and Sexuality in American History
2008-10: Graduate Student Instructor, University of Michigan
Introduction to LGBTQ Studies
History of Sexuality
Introduction to Women’s Studies
Modern U.S. History Survey: 1865 to the Present
2005-06: Lecturer, San Francisco State University
Values and Culture: Representations of the Body
Invited Guest Lectures
“Writing the Story of The Famous Lady Lovers,” San Francisco State University, January 2024.
“The Famous Lady Lovers and the Importance of LGBT History Month,” Rhodes College, October 2023.
“The Famous Lady Lovers and the Importance of LGBT History Month,” Georgia Tech, October 2023.
“The Famous Lady Lovers and the Importance of LGBT History Month,” Lambuth University, October
“‘Where the Girls Are:’ Riot Grrrl, Feminism, and Queer 1990s Culture,” Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies, University of Mississippi, September 2021.
Discussion of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom film with Student History Society, University of Memphis, March 2021 (virtual).
“Doing Research on Queer African American Women’s History,” Historical Research Methods class, Northern Illinois University, October 2020 (virtual).
“Woman Slain in Queer Love Brawl,” [Discussion of my JAAH article], Black Women’s History, Indiana University, March 2020 (virtual).
“Riot Grrrl and Queercore,” Punk Rock Musical Theatre class, Rhodes College, October 2019
“’All the Single Ladies:’ Spinsters, Bachelor Maids, and Unmarried Women in American History,” History Department, University of Memphis, March 2017.
“The Famous Lady Lovers: African American Women and Same-Sex Desire in the Jazz Age,” Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Kalamazoo College, October 2015.
“The Queer Blues Women: Identity and Performance during the Harlem Renaissance,” Women as Performers, University of Michigan, March 2014.
“Queer Identities, Experiences and Cultures,” Psychology Club, Borough of Manhattan Community College, March 2013.
“An Historical Overview on Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Women in Modern U.S. History,” PSY 245: Psychology of Women, Borough of Manhattan Community College, March 2013.
Invited Seminars and Symposiums
Chair, “Y’all Means All: Doing Queer Southern Public History Now” roundtable, Organization for
American Historians annual meeting, New Orleans, April 2024 (panel creator).
Chair, Indigenous Queer Histories panel, Organization for American Historians annual meeting, Los
Angeles, April 2023 (panel creator).
Moderator, “The End of Roe? Histories of Reproduction, Rights, and Freedom” panel, History
Department, University of Memphis, October 2022 (panel creator).
Panelist, “The Power of the Youth Vote” presentation and Voter Registration Drive, Ned
McWherter Library, University of Memphis, September 2022.
Commenter, Black Women and Gender panel, Graduate Association for African-American History
Conference, University of Memphis, February 2022.
Chair, “Stonewall at 50” panel, Organization for American Historians annual meeting, Philadelphia, April 2019.
Lesbian Studies, Lesbian Scholars: New Pathways, New Futures, University of Maryland, January 2014.
Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, Friday Workshop discussant with CUNY Professor Sharon Zukin, University of Michigan, February 2012.
Closing roundtable respondent, Symposium on Lesbian and Queer Historiography, University of Michigan, February 2011.
Graduate student seminar moderated by J. Jack Halberstam, Rethinking Sex Conference, University of Pennsylvania, March 2009.
Service
Teaching and Mentoring Committee, History Department, University of Memphis, 2022- (Chair).
Strategies and Tactics for Recruiting to Improve Diversity and Excellence (STRIDE) training, History
Department, University of Memphis, April 2022.
Gregory Sprague Prize Committee for undergraduate scholarship on LGBTQ+ history, The
Committee on LGBT History, American Historical Association Affiliate Society, 2021 (Chair).
Committee on the Status of LGBTQ Historians and LGBTQ Histories, Organization of American
Historians, 2020-2024 (Chair for 2022-23).
Graduate Studies Committee, History Department, University of Memphis, 2019-2022.
Chair Search Committee, History Department, University of Memphis, 2019.
Early American Search Committee, History Department, University of Memphis, 2018-19.
Mid-South LBGTQ+ Archive, Community of Research Scholars, University of Memphis, 2018-2020.
Judge, Western Tennessee History Day, 2018-2021.
Women and Gender Studies Advisory Committee, University of Memphis, 2018-.
Undergraduate Studies Committee, University of Memphis, University of Memphis, 2017-2019.
Governing Board Member, The Committee on LGBT History, American Historical Association Affiliate Society, 2015-17.
Book Prize Committee, The Committee on LGBT History, American Historical Association Affiliate Society, 2013.
Organizing committee member, Doing Queer Studies Now graduate student conference, October 2010.
Senior Peer Mentor, Women’s Studies, 2009-2010.
Women’s Studies Graduate Student Steering Committee, 2009-2010.
Graduate Student Teaching Mentor, Women’s Studies, Fall 2009.
History/Women’s Studies joint Ph.D. program admissions committee, Winter 2009.
Public History
Interviewed for the Schomburg Center’s Conversations in Black Freedom Studies series, January 2024.
Advisory Committee Member, New York History Society 2025 exhibit on the Harlem Renaissance and
Black queer life in the 1920s and 30s convened by George Chauncey (November 2023).
Author, “Gladys Bentley Was a Gender Outlaw,” Harper’s Bazaar, March 2023.
Interviewed for article on LGBTQ History Month, South Florida Gay News, Oct 2022.
Invited blogger, “Never No Wells Of Lonelinesses In Harlem:” Black Lady Lovers In Prohibition Era
New York,” Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History, June 2022.
Historical consultant, Book of Queer, Discovery +, 2022.
Advisory Committee member, Memphis LGBTQ History exhibit at the Museum of Science and History,
Memphis, TN, 2021-2022.
Interviewed for UNLADYLIKE2020 PBS American Master documentary, Gladys Bentley episode, aired June 2020.
Co-Convener, De-Centering Stonewall: 50 years of Memphis LGBTQ+ History, University of Memphis, October 25, 2019.
Interviewed for Backstory Podcast’s Valentine Day episode, “The History of Transgressive Love, February 2019.
Contributor, Femme Histories Roundtable Parts I & II, Notches Blog, February 2017
Interviewed for article, “The ‘Criminal’ Black Lesbian: Where Does This Damaging Stereotype Come From?” Code Switch column, NPR, 2016.
Interviewed for article, “The History of Lesbian Bars,” Broadly/VICE Media, 2015.
Author, “Capturing Communities: Lesbian Art in “On The Domestic Front” 1000-word essay for catalog accompanying the exhibit “On the Domestic Front: Scenes of Everyday Queer Life,” Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York City, 2015.
Researcher, annotated chronology of the marriage equality movement, Outhistory.org, 2014.
Donated personal collection of fanzines and records to Alien She, 1990s feminist art exhibit, Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, 2013-2014.
Blogger, Pop-Up Museum of Queer History Tumblr, 2012-13.
Submission Review Committee, Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, New York City, Summer 2012.
Volunteer, Pop-Up Museum of Queer History, New York City, 2011-2012.
Historical consultant and interview subject, Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution (Sara Marcus, Harper Perennial, 2010).
Professional Affiliations
American Historical Association
Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History – American Historical Association affiliate society
National Women’s Studies Association
American Studies Association
Cookie Woolner: queer historian, researcher, and author. 