02/25/24
Author: Alex Cooper
Hey there,🎭 In August of 1862, Lyons Wakeman, a 19-year-old from upstate New York, enlisted in the Union Army. Wakeman went on to fight gallantly in action against the Confederates in Louisiana before, like so many Civil War soldiers, dying from disease rather than a bullet. But Wakeman differed from the other soldiers in one key respect: Wakeman was assigned female at birth and lived most of her life under the name Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. Now Wakeman’s story is coming to the stage, as she’s the focus of a musical play, with the working title of The Rosetta Project,
Ben Fenwick
Shutterstock
tribute art via freedom oklahoma; Courtesy Benedict family via The Independent; Shutterstock
Owasso Police Department
Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Americana Music AssociationKasandra Phelps via GoFundMe
Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Mississippi House of Representatives; Shutterstock
Courtesy Sue Benedict via KJHR News; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Simon & Schuster; Ella Pennington for Lindz Amer
Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagicWALTERS FOR STATE SUPERINTENDENT; footage still via kjrh news 2 oklahoma
Jenn Grinels
This week’s question was: What acclaimed book by George M. Johnson has been banned across the U.S. for its overtly queer themes?
This week’s answer is:All Boys Aren’t Blue. The young adult book, which Johnson describes as a memoir-manifesto, details their experience as a young Black queer person navigating the world as they grew up. Johnson recently announced their next book, Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known, will be out in September.
🎉 Congrats to Jack and Kerry for getting it right!
Reply to this email with some trivia we should know, and you may get a shout-out in a future newsletter!
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Original Article on The Advocate
Author: Alex Cooper
