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Passing published
Passing by Nella Larsen (1891-1964) published. The book discusses the life of Clare Kendry, an African American woman passing as white and married to a white man and her meeting with childhood companion, Irene Redfield. Irene, though light skinned and able to pass, remains closer to the African American community. -
Evelynn Hammonds born
Evelynn Hammonds born in Atlanta, Georgia -
Illinois repeals sodomy law
Illinois becomes the first state to repeal its sodomy law in the United States. The repeal is implemented in 1962. -
NOW founded
NOW the National Organization of Women founded. Their 1966 statement of purpose declares, “The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.” -
Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall riots begin, instigated by police raids of gay bars. The riots take place outside the Stonewall Inn – a bar in Greenwich Village favored by drag queens, transsexuals, and poor or working class queers. The riots are regarded as a landmark incident in gay history in the United States. -
The Lavender Menace forms in NY
Radicalesbians issues "The Woman Identified Woman" Manifesto in response to homophobia in the women's movement. -
National Black Feminist Organization founded
The National Black Feminist Organization founded in New York. The organization ceased activity on the national level in the late 70's. -
Homosexuality removed from DSM
The American Psychiatry Association removes homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. -
The Combahee River Collective issues statement
Named in reference to a campaign led by Harriet Tubman who freed hundreds of slaves near the Combahee River in South Carolina in 1863, The Combahee River Collective was a collective of Black socialist feminists which included Barbara Smith. In April 1974, the collective issued “A Black Feminist Statement: The Combahee River Collective Statement” which articulates a radical black feminist discussion of intersectionality and political praxis, amongst other concerns. -
Hammonds graduates with B.S.
Hammonds graduates from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia with a B.S. from the Department of Physics. -
Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press
Kitchen Table: Women of Color press, an activist feminist press and the first press owned and operated by W.O.C., is founded. Popular publications include Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology edited by Barbara Smith, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga, and I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities by Audre Lorde. The press no longer operates. -
Hammonds graduates with S.M.
Hammonds obtains her S.M. from the Department of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She later becomes the founding director for the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology and Medicine at MIT. -
All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men but Some of Us are Brave published
All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men but Some of Us are Brave, edited by Gloria Hull, Patricia Bell Scott, and Barbara Smith is published. The collection of critical essays addresses issues with Black Studies, Women's Studies, and discusses the possibilities for and in Black Women's Studies. -
In Search of Our Mother's Garden's published
Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose is published and defines womanism. -
Sister Outsider published
Audre Lorde's (1934 – 1992) Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is published and includes a broad range of essays and speeches addressing a myriad of critical issues including racism and homophobia in the women's movement. The collection includes "Poetry is Not a Luxury," "An Open Letter to Mary Daly," and "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." -
Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose, 1979–1985 published
Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose, 1979–1985 by Adrienne Rich (b.1929 - ) is published. This collection includes a reprint of "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" (1980). -
National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum founded
National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum founded in Los Angeles. -
Max Robinson dies
Max Robison (1939 – 1988) known as the first African American to anchor network news, passes away from AIDS. Robinson began anchoring the "World News Tonight" on ABC in 1978. -
differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies forms
differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies forms and begins publishing. The journal continues to publish three issues annually. -
Queer Theory emerges
Queer theory begins to emerge as a distinct field of study. Fun Fact: de Laurentis is often attributed with the coining of the term "queer" though she eventually distanced herself from the term, citing its appropriation by the mainstream. -
Black Feminist Thought published
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins (b. 1948 - ) published and is considered to be a pivotal text regarding the theorization of black feminism. Collins' work discusses agency, subjectivity, culture, and intersectionality. -
Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex" published
Judith Butler's (b. 1956- ) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex" is published following Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity in 1990. Butler's Bodies That Matter expands her discussion on the body, materiality, sex, sexuality, and performativity from Gender Trouble. -
Hammonds graduates with Ph.D.
Hammonds graduates from Harvard University with her Ph.D. from the Department of the History of Science. -
Don't Ask, Don't Tell
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" becomes the U.S. military's stance on gays in the military. Though prohibiting discrimination against and the harassment of closeted service members, the order bars openly gay people from serving in the military. D.A.D.T is repealed on September 20, 2011. -
The Practice of Love: Lesbian Sexuality and Perverse Desire published
Teresa de Laurentis' The Practice of Love: Lesbian Sexuality and Perverse Desire is published. The text discusses psychoanalytic theories and lesbian sexuality and film studies. -
"Toward A Genealogy of Black Female Sexuality" published
Hammonds' article “Toward a Genealogy of Black Female Sexuality: The Problematic of Silence” is published in Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, and Democratic Futures edited by M. Jacqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade. Hammonds discusses black female sexuality and AIDS. -
Childhood’s Deadly Scourge: The Campaign to Control Diphtheria in New York City, 1880–1930 published
Childhood’s Deadly Scourge: The Campaign to Control Diphtheria in New York City, 1880–1930 by Evelynn Hammonds is published. -
Hammonds appointed Dean of Harvard College
Evelynn Hammonds begins tenure as Dean of Harvard College after having joined the Harvard Faculty in Arts and Sciences in 2002. -
Hammonds' current projects
Under contract with the University of North Carolina press, one of Hammonds' current projects addressing her research is The Logic of Difference: A History of Race in Science and Medicine in the United States, 1850–1990.
