Digital Transgender Archive

Kiara St. James Oral History

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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 Information:

Identifier
cc08hf81q
Collection
Oral Histories with People of Color
Institution
NYC Trans Oral History Project
Creator(s)
O'Brien, Michelle Esther
St. James, Kiara
Contributor(s)
Ambrose, Justine
Publisher
New York Public Library
Date Issued
Mar. 6, 2017
Dates Covered
1975 to 2017
Genre
Oral Histories
Subject(s)
Housing Works
Kiara St. James
New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG)
Places
New York
Georgia > Fulton County > Atlanta
Texas > Jefferson County > Beaumont
Baden-Württemberg > Karlsruhe Region > Stadtkreis Heidelberg > Heidelberg
Topic(s)
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
Audio
Digital Format
duration: 1 hour 52 minutes 12 seconds
Language
English
Rights
Copyright undetermined
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