New Schools Resources for LGBT+ History

They’ve been a long time in the making, but we are now proud to present our new LGBT+ history schools resource pack!

The resources were developed by Nate Eisenstadt and Helen Foster as part of Mapping LGBT+ Bristol – a collaboration between University Bristol, Bristol City Council, local LGBT+ history group OutStories Bristol and the LGBTQ youth group Freedom Youth. Mapping LGBT+ Bristol was and AHRC follow-on funded project from Know Your Bristol on the Move which involved local volunteers in the researching and recording of Bristol’s LGBT+ history and the creation of a digital map and mobile app to display and elicit further contributions to the material collected.

The new curriculum resources draw on the material collected through the course of Mapping LGBT+ Bristol and make use of the map and mobile app as an innovative and exciting method of engaging secondary school students in local LGBT+ history and its geographies.

Through engagement with this rich and locally relevant source material, the resources aim to cultivate in students, a connection to place and elicit profound reflection on social and philosophical questions around gender, sexuality, social norms, freedom, crime and punishment.

The resources also raise methodological questions around what it is that different kinds of source material – like historic newspaper articles or oral history recordings – can tell us about the past as well as the difficulties that are encountered when trying to understand historic practices using contemporary concepts.

While the resources are free to download (insert link) and a limited run of printed materials are available on request (contact: N.eisenstadt@Bristol.ac.uk) schools may also buy-in delivery of the sessions. Delivery will be carried out by peer facilitators from Freedom Youth trained as part of the wider Mapping LGBT+ Bristol project.