Person

Jen Manion

Bylines

May We All Be So Brave as 19th-Century Female Husbands

Far from being a recent or 21st-century phenomenon, people have chosen, courageously, to trans gender throughout history.

by Jen Manion via Aeon on May 7, 2020
The Rightness of the Singular ‘They’

This year, Merriam-Webster added a new definition to the word “they”: “used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.”

by Jen Manion via Los Angeles Review of Books on December 15, 2019

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Women of the nation's founding sitting next to each other in front of the Declaration of Independence

America's Founding Feminists: Rewriting America’s Origin Story

On America’s 250th anniversary, Ms.’ "Founding Feminists" series centers the women whose words, labor and resistance built—and keep rebuilding—democracy.

by Janell Hobson via Ms. Magazine on March 2, 2026

1903 postcard depicts two Black actors, one of whom is dressed in drag, performing a cakewalk in Paris.

The First Self-Proclaimed Drag Queen Was a Formerly Enslaved Man

In the late 19th century, William Dorsey Swann's private balls attracted unwelcome attention from authorities and the press.

by Cari Shane via Smithsonian Magazine on June 9, 2023

A rainbow over a waterscape.

Queer History Detective: On the Power of Uncovering Stories from the Past

With more queer history detectives, what could our future look like?

by Amelia Possanza via Literary Hub on May 30, 2023

Inventing Solitary

In 1790, Philadelphia opened the first American penitentiary, with the US's first solitary cells. Black people were disproportionately punished from the start.

by Samantha Melamed via Philadelphia Inquirer on June 8, 2022

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