Emily Skidmore
Email: Emily.Skidmore@ttu.edu
Office: 62 Holden Hall
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Emily Skidmore's research interests are U.S. women's and gender history, cultural history, and queer studies. Her book, True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, was published by NYU Press in the fall of 2017. She is also an Associate Editor of Gale's forthcoming text, A Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History. Her work has also been featured on the NPR podcast, “Backstory," as well as Bitch magazine and the websites Lit Hub and Notches.
Dr. Skidmore's article, "Ralph Kerwineo's Queer Body: Narrating the Scales of Social Membership in the Early Twentieth Century," appeared in a special issue of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, titled “Queering the Middle: Race, Sexual Diasporas, and a Queer Midwest,”in early 2014. This article was awarded the 2016 Audre Lorde Prize, which recognizes an outstanding article on LGBT history published in the preceding two years.
Dr. Skidmore's work has also appeared in Feminist Studies, and she has been invited to publish book reviews in The Journal of the History of Sexuality, Journal of American History, and the Journal of American Ethnic History.
Prior to joining the faculty at Texas Tech, Dr. Skidmore earned a B.A. in History and Urban Studies from Macalester College in 2004, and a Ph.D. in History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2011. Dr. Skidmore is thrilled to be a part of the Texas Tech community, and excited about developing her broad teaching interests, offering courses in U.S. History, and histories of gender and sexuality.

Select Publications
Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) History,
1st Edition
The Global Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History will provide a global view of the history of LGBTQ, covering significant figures
and events worldwide. Wide-ranging in scope, this encyclopedia complements courses
in a variety of disciplines, including history, American studies, literature, psychology,
sociology and others. Features include a thematic outline and a comprehensive index. https://www.cengage.com/search/productOverview
True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century
In True Sex, Emily Skidmore uncovers the stories of eighteen trans men who lived in the United
States between 1876 and 1936. Despite their “unexceptional” quality, their lives are
surprising and moving, challenging much of what we think we know about queer history.
By tracing the narratives surrounding the moments of “discovery” in these communities
– from reports in local newspapers to medical journals and beyond -- this book challenges
the assumption that the full story of modern American sexuality is told by cosmopolitan
radicals. Rather, True Sex reveals complex narratives concerning rural geography and
community, persecution and tolerance, and how these factors intersect with the history
of race, identity and sexuality in America. https://nyupress.org/books/9781479870639/
Department of History
-
Address
Texas Tech University, Box 41013, 131 Holden Hall, Lubbock, TX 79409 -
Phone
806.742.3744 | Fax: 806.742.1060 -
Email
info.history@ttu.edu