Black Trans MADE
Black Trans in the Americas
Project Leads & Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. C. Riley Snorton, University of Chicago, Dr. Syrus Ware, McMaster University, Ravyn Wngz, Aeryka Hollis O’Neill
Seed Phase: 2022-2024
Gardener: Humanities Without Walls
Black Trans in the Americas is a community-based and community-led research partnership that aims to document and celebrate the myriad of ways that Black Trans people survive, create community, build programs, lead movements and make indelible marks in the Americas. There is an urgent need for explicit attention to Black Trans lived experience, in the face of increased transphobic violence and anti-trans legislation across geographies. Humanities scholarship is necessary for this project as it is attuned to narration, translation, and representation as modalities, methods, and forms, but also as reflective of power relations. Our goal is to create a sustainable, web-based BTiA network and archive of community-based interviews, oral histories, films, and other creative outputs built by and for Black Trans communities.