Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall by St. Sukie de la Croix (review)

Local studies have been a mainstay in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) historical scholarship. Monographs and dissertations on a diverse array of US cities, including Buffalo, New York; Houston, Texas; Jackson, Mississippi; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Washington, DC, have demonstrated that queer life occurs in places outside the gay meccas of New York City and San Francisco. More importantly, these works have complicated long-standing assumptions about the formation of LGBT identities, communities, and politics in the United States. The question of how and when homosexual identities formed, for example, is far more complex and geographically specific than initially understood. We also have a richer appreciation of the difference between same-sex acts and same-sex identities because of this literature. Well into the mid- to late twentieth century, women and men skirted liminal spaces that were neither “homosexual” nor “heterosexual,” suggesting that the imposition of the sexual binary was not as absolute or successful as once presumed. Local works also have shed valuable light on historical subjects that are not explicitly LGBT, including corporate management, migration, tourism, and zoning.

Chicago Whispers adds to the growing list of local studies by focusing on Chicago, a city third in population behind New York City and Los Angeles and the birthplace of American gay rights activism but that has been largely neglected in LGBT historical writing. Journalist St. Sukie de la Croix seeks to redress this omission by detailing the public and private lives of the many queer people who lived, worked in, or passed through the city. Familiar names appear throughout the book, including Henry Gerber, Ma Rainey, and Gertrude Stein. Less recognizable figures also surface, such as the lesbian lawyer Pearl Heart and the drag performer Tony Midnite. As part of his effort to give voice to the forgotten figures of the LGBT past, de la Croix decidedly privileges Margaret Anderson, founding publisher and editor of the literary and arts magazine the Little Review, over the famed settlement social worker Jane Addams. His work also covers enormous ground. It begins by describing how French Jesuits and Spanish explorers from the seventeenth century interpreted the “feminine men” of Indian tribes. After copious reporting on the late nineteenth century and early to mid-twentieth century, the book concludes with a discussion of efforts of the Mattachine Midwest and “gay pioneers” to fight homosexual oppression on the eve of the iconic Stonewall riots.

The book’s sweeping chronological scope and attention to detail make it invaluable to anyone looking to uncover the intricacies of Chicago LGBT history. Interested readers will find an array of subjects covered, including early scientific research on sexuality, drag and gender inversion, blues music, sex law reform, and literature, over the course of twenty-five thematically organized chapters. This structure, accompanied by the concise blurbs summarizing each chapter, enables audiences to read this book in parts or altogether.

Readers seeking to understand the importance of Chicago LGBT history and its significance to the American past or any of the subjects the book confronts will likely be disappointed. Directed at a popular audience, Chicago Whispers reads like a scavenger hunt for LGBT life in pre-Stonewall Chicago. This approach causes de la Croix to insufficiently interrogate his sources. In the latter chapters, for example, he relies heavily on the unfounded, often homophobic reporting of mainstream newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times to discuss drag culture and night life. Although this information is supplemented with interviews conducted by the author, the book’s bibliography provides no indication of how he used any of his sources. Chicago Whispers includes rare source material, too, such as an early 1930s report by a University of Chicago divinity student on a New Year’s Eve drag ball (126–30). Unfortunately, de la Croix merely reproduces the report for four pages without analyzing its significance, as he does with many...