Digital Transgender Archive
Kiara St. James is the CEO and a co-founder of New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG). Here, she recalls the experiences throughout her life that inform her activism and advocacy today as a trans woman of color. She recounts her early upbringing in an evangelical Christian community in Beaumont, Texas and her adolescence spent with a foster family in Heidelberg, Germany. She details many of the scenes and spaces she inhabited as a femme queen in nineties-era New York City, and reflects on both care and conflict within the trans community during that time. She describes her evolution as a community activist, and considers the opportunities and challenges of trans-led advocacy to secure civil and political rights, economic empowerment, and personal dignity.
Item Actions
- View At
- https://nyctransoralhistory.org/interview/kiara-st-james/
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- Citation
- Cite
- Identifier
- cc08hf81q
- Collection
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Oral Histories with People of Color
- Institution
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NYC Trans Oral History Project
- Creator(s)
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O'Brien, Michelle Esther
St. James, Kiara
- Contributor(s)
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Ambrose, Justine
- Publisher
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New York Public Library
- Date Issued
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Mar. 6, 2017
- Dates Covered
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1975 to 2017
- Genre
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Oral Histories
- Subject(s)
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Housing Works
Kiara St. James
New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG)
- Places
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New York
Georgia > Fulton County > Atlanta
Texas > Jefferson County > Beaumont
Baden-Württemberg > Karlsruhe Region > Stadtkreis Heidelberg > Heidelberg
- Topic(s)
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Acceptance
Activists
Black people
Childhood
Christianity
Civil rights
Drag queens
Education
Families
Femmes
Foster families
Gender identity
Health care
HIV/AIDS
Homelessness
Hormones
Intimate partner violence
LGBTQ+ sex workers
MtFs
Night life
Organisations
Politics
Poverty
Racism
Transgender community
Transgender rights
Transitioning (Gender)
Transphobia
- Resource Type
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Audio
- Digital Format
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duration: 1 hour 52 minutes 12 seconds
- Language
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English
- Rights
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Copyright undetermined
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