This tag was created by Lauren Champagne. The last update was by Nathan Hansford.
Queer Archives Project Main MenuThe Queer Archives Project at Lafayette CollegeMaking Queer History Visible and Supporting Teaching, Learning and Research In LGBTQ+ StudiesWelcome: Queer Pasts, Queer FuturesOral History InterviewsA comprehensive timeline of all interviews conducted for the Queer Archives Project.Themes from InterviewsLGBTQ+ KeywordsInterpretative PathsTeaching, Learning & ResearchThis section of the site shares materials associated with using the QAP both in the classroom and in research.All Archival ArtifactsThe QAP Team
2014 Student Paper: "Black Manifesto to QuEST Manifesto"
12019-04-08T21:59:34+00:00Lauren Champagnef2cb2b38699e09c8134330026261f20b35155b9b16This paper for the WGS 340 course, Sexuality Studies, written by Shanequa Lassiter '14 outlines the history of dialogue and activism around LGBTQ issues at Lafayette College.plain2024-07-17T20:49:21+00:00Lafayette College Special Collections & College Archives12 May 2014TextShanequa Lassiter '14Lauren ChampagneNathan Hansford3926ffe97d588a1c4abb8e0e0550aeb3c9787013
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12018-03-23T18:49:50+00:00Courtney Howell3eb2bcf338d14b262406255837ccef6024b60847Race & EthnicityMary A Armstrong5A tag page linking to all content that relates to the theme: Race & Ethnicitytimeline2019-04-29T21:43:08+00:00Mary A Armstrong41061fcf0da5c46170ab7fce619c80dcde461b93
12019-05-14T04:14:32+00:00But Do They Really?14plain2019-06-05T02:39:55+00:00
Shanequa Lassiter ‘14, author of the WGS 340 Archival Project: Black Manifesto to QuEST Manifesto student paper written in 2014, is shown here photographed for the Gender and Sexuality Programs Feminist Photography Project. Her self-written board states “I need feminism because as a queer woman of color my voice is still excluded from major decisions”. Although both QuEST and BCD were lead by queer Black women at this time, perhaps Lassiter’s overall critique of society was a foreboding warning of what was to come at Lafayette.
In 2018, the student created organization Queer People of Color, more commonly known as QPOC was founded. The two women who began this organization did so in response to both the lack of representation in Quest and other identity groups on campus focused on race. In acknowledging that “ultimately white LGBTQ culture and Black LGBTQ culture [are] very different” from each other, the two students felt like it was crucial to create the safe space on campus that was not being held for queer students of color by Quest (Newman). However, as per the course with BCD, one of the founders recalls how she faced pushback from administration and specifically Student Government in the creation of the club where both founders “[had to] explain to a lot of people that [Lafayette] is a predominantly white space and we need a space for people of color to feel comfortable,” despite the existence of other sexuality clubs on campus (Newman).
The fall semester of 2018 saw the club’s first school wide event come into fruition after a semester long planning period with the first annual QPOC Art Fest. Heralded as ‘Creating a space, visibility, and accessibility for people of color in the arts’, the Art Fest was a space where all students were welcomed to engage with a multitude of art mediums as an introduction to the club.
While still battling the space of hypervisibility and silence, QPOC engages with this in a way that previously Quest and BCD has not. By choosing to have school wide events such as the Art Fest, while also hosting annual kickbacks and roundtable discussions created specifically for queer people of color and their allied communities, QPOC has found a way to put themselves in the spotlight only when they see it fit, and to choose silence in the times when it feels appropriate to preserve and protect their culture, community, and safety.
