Queer Miami before 1940 with Julio Capó, Jr.
Photograph courtesy of Fotonoggin
Greetings all! I am vary happy to welcome Dr. Julio Capó, Jr. to the show!!! Julio is Associate Professor of History and the Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab at Florida International University in Miami. He researches inter-American histories, with a focus on queer, Latinx, race, immigration, and empire studies. His book, Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940 (UNC Press, 2017), has received six honors, including the Charles S. Sydnor award from the Southern Historical Association for the best book written on the U.S. South. He recently curated an award-winning exhibition at HistoryMiami Museum titled Queer Miami: A History of LGBTQ Communities. His work has appeared in the Journal of American History, Radical History Review, Diplomatic History, Journal of American Ethnic History, and Modern American History. A former journalist, he has also written for Time, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, and other outlets. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of American History, is co-chair of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender History, and has held fellowships at Yale University and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
Julio and I have a great chat about the city of Miami (which I still have never visited…grrr) and also look at some of the more significant factors of public history - you all know I am a big fan! We discuss:
Miami’s transnational connections and the city as a queer borderland
A city that has embraced gender and sexuality difference…long before Stonewall and the so-called beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement
A coded life - in comparison to George Chauncey’s description of the prewar lives of gay men in New York
The “marketing” of Fairyland
Research and finding voices in the archives
Pubic history and the roles of historians in a public setting
Twitter. Because Twitter
Journalism, journalists, and history
Have a listen!
You’ll have to forgive me a little on this one - our Internet connection was bad before we ironed out the tech issue and the first few minutes of the call sounds kinda spotty. Still…it’s not really that big of a deal so listen up :) And I would enjoy continuing the conversation so pick up a copy of Juilo’s book, follow him on Twitter, and keep the conversation going in the comments and on social!
And please, don’t forget to subscribe to The Rogue Historian Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app so you never ever ever ever miss a show. That would be dumb.
With compliments,
Keith