In keeping with my philosophy to make sure all students feel included in American history class, I tweeted Katherine Ott (@amhistcurator)for inspiration.  I wanted to know how to include my students who are part of the LGBTQA+ spectrum in the story, and since #LGBThistory as part of the story in the Colonial Era isn’t part an area expertise for me, I sought some advice from an expert source:

I took @amhistcurator’s suggestion and designed a lesson about gender fluidity in the Colonial Era. Gender is a spectrum, and many of our students do not fall in the binary; therefore, recognizing their identities in history is important and the discussion of gender stories and different ways gender was expressed historically includes people who are usually invisible in our history classes.  While many terms, including transgender, are new terms and weren’t part of 18th-century vernacular, the idea of gender identity and gender fluidity did exist.  Therefore, the objectives of the lesson are two-fold:

• To increase awareness and empathy of those on the gender spectrum.
• To understand historic views of gender.

In the lesson I created, students are asked to go to different stations to analyze primary source documents from the 1700s in order to find out how American colonists assigned gender to young children, if at all.  They are also asked to reflect upon present societal standards for gender as well as their own gender story.  Gender has many definitions, but the main definition of gender in this case involves the meaning that a particular society and culture attach sexual difference. Gender can be integrated in legal, economic, and social interactions. (DeHart, Jane Sherron & Kerber, Linda K. “Gender and the New Women’s History” Women’s America, pg 10. )  Remember– gender is a spectrum, so when teaching this lesson please note to students that you are teaching in the binary (about boys and girls), but you are aware that there are more than two genders.

In order to prepare for this lesson, you will need the following primary source documents (you can access the from Google Drive here)

• “Portrait of Two Children” attributed to Joseph Badger. 
• Picture of Boy’s Frock or Gown.
• Picture of children’s shoes (attached)
• Excerpt from Coton Mather’s A Token for the Children of New England. (attached)
• Excerpt from John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education. (attached)

And you’ll also need:

• Approximately 10 Pictures of present-day children from magazines, newspapers, etc.
• Sticky notes (pink and blue if you have them)

Procedure:

1. Using pictures of present-day children, ask students to look at the pictures and put a pink sticky note near the pictures children that they think are girls or a blue sticky note near the pictures of children they think are boys.  They should write on the sticky note why they made their choices.
2. Review sticky note choices with children.  Note on the board or on chart paper what characteristics the students used to denote children as either boys or girls.
3. Explain to students that in Colonial America, children were “gender fluid” until age 7.  Their genders weren’t fixed; babies were simply babies. (They may not be familiar with the term gender fluid.  Please define it for them and allow discussion. Gender fluidity is defined as a person who does not identify themselves as having a fixed gender.)
4. Break students into small groups and have them visit each station with the Primary Source analysis sheet.
5. Decompress and reflect: As a large group, come back together to discuss the writing and pictures students saw.  Explain that small children and babies of the 1700s were dressed and had roles that were “genderfluid”: both male and female.  Ask students what kinds of differences they saw between babies’ gender assignments present-day to how society handled gender in the 1700s.  As an exit ticket, students should reflect upon what they saw. Possible reflection questions could be:
   1. How do the gender practices for babies of the 1700s challenge gender practices today?
   2. Do you think that it makes a difference to label a child as a boy or a girl at that young of an age?  Why or why not?
   3. What is my gender story? Have I ever experienced limitations because of gender norms?

There are many ways that early-American history teachers can include gender identity and gender stories in their classrooms;  exploring gender fluidity in colonial children in just one.  Teachers could also have students explore gender expression among female soldiers in the Continental Army or non-binary genders in Native American cultures.  What ideas do you have to include those on the LGBTQA+ spectrum in the early American (or later American!) story?