Non-Majority Visibility in Print Media

The nature of locally circulated print media is particularly unique given that the medium was not necessarily intended to be seen by people outside of the community, and most certainly was not expected to survive long enough for historians to study it. However, it is precisely this lack of consiousness by the creator that lends the material to scholars, as the content generally provides a deeper, more unfiltered glimpse into the inner workings of a community. In some instances, locally circulated print media even provides a platform for non-majority networks who have since been erased in the secondary literature of today. Further, while the aim of some of these publications may have been advocacy, there are perhaps more non-majority networks that simply chose print media as their favored way of communication within their already established communities. By retrospectively studying these locally circulated non-majority networks, these communities are granted the visibility and depth that has been stolen from them by the biases of historians and dominating media sources--by revisiting these materials we are getting an unedited, unfiltered glimpse into a community as it was. This portion of the exhibition features print sources from the Harry Ransom Center, the Briscoe Center for American History, and the Llilas Benson Collections. All of the items included in this narrative represent some form non-majority network through the medium of print, and provide insight into how these communities may have functioned. 

Credits: Zoe Roden, Lucian Smith, Jenohn Euland, Vega-Sophia Shah, and Sarah Brownson

View Magazine, Index of Series no. II: View magazine is a little magazine that was published in New York between 1940 and 1947--while its content was certainly cosmopolitan, the majority of the audience was made up by the New York avant-garde community, along with WWII refugees from the European art and literary scenes. The bohemian contributors of View were ecclectic, bold, experimental, and also largely queer. The communities surrounding View Magazine were the antithesis of what the general public now considers homosexual communities to have been in pre-Stonewall America; instead of fulfilling the archetypes of shame and regret, New York’s avant-garde queer communities can be characterized by flagrant and nonapologetic displays of homosexuality and open-ended gender expression. While the magazine was most definitely not intended to advocate for LGBTQ rights or protest unjust treatment of the queer community, the visibility of these queer figures in spite of predatory legislation is important nonetheless. The identification and validation of previous queer communities contributes to the longevity and legitimacy of the larger LGBTQ movement. 

Fotonovela: El Precio del Engaño: This fotonovela published by the Hispanic AIDS Committee for Education and Resources which provided educational information about the HIV AIDS epidemic. HACER was established in 1987 to distribute educational materials about HIV and AIDS for the Hispanic population of South Texas.

At this time, there was lack of education on the HIV AIDS epidemic. Moreover, the Latino community was highly at risk for spread of the disease due to the conservative values in the community. Topics such as homosexuality and premarital sex are taboo and not addressed forwardly. Conservative values contributed to a lack of education for this community about the spreading epidemic resulting in organizations like HACER being created to distribute educational materials, such as this fotonovela. This photonovela employs Spanish in an accessible form with striking visuals and a dramatic story to educate readers. The comic book style format with actors creates a visual narrative through photos and speech bubbles. The underlying themes include deception, machismo, conservative values, and lack of government intervention.

For many first generation LGBTQ youth finding community is difficult. This lack of inclusion often results in internal conflict and self hatred (Choubak & Saba). This exhibited self hatred is caused by a lost sense of inclusion from their own ethnic community, the heternormative straight community, and the gay community.

All-Negro Comics: This comic combat the downfall of black literature after the effects of the Great Depression debilitated the literary movement of the Harlem Renaissance. Orrin C. Evans and other collaborators responsible for the first edition comic took significant pride in advocating for black creatives. As print media, this item concretized the black narrative amidst attempts to silence advocacy for Africans and black americans. All-Negro Comics was produced for local circulation within the black community, but its mere existence opposed existing eurocentric power structures of the mid 20th century. Through its display of radical and conservative black figures, various dimensions of black identity find representation. For this reason, we cannot deny this comic's fundamental role in coalescing the political division of the Black Power Movement and further, its production of communal black pride through art visibility.

"Off Our Backs:" A Woman's News-Journal Volume 1 no. 5: This is a feminist news journal that focuses on women's liberation across racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. This issue of the journal focuses on the Vietnam War and women's role in activism against the war. This news journal talks briefly on the antiwar movement, and describes how despite the fact that a significant amount of American women were against the war, the movement was dominated by males and the narrative was not inclusive of women.

Quote: "...Well, they haven't given any power to us, sisters, and we're half the people. Telling the people when to move, where to move, how to move...listening at the rallies- never any women's voices coming over the sound system."