Emily Skidmore
Email: Emily.Skidmore@ttu.edu
Office: 62 Holden Hall
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
mily Skidmore's research interests are U.S. women's and gender history in the 19th and 20th centuries. She is currently working on her second book project, tentatively titled The Right to Latch: Breastfeeding Advocacy, Race, Class and American Parenthood, 1940-Present, which explores the rise of mainstream breastfeeding advocacy organizations in the 1950s and the ways in which they have influenced popular understandings of proper parenthood to this day. Dr. Skidmore's research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center, and she has won research grants from Harvard and Cornell Universities. Her first book, True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century was published by NYU Press in 2017, and was awarded the PROSE prize for the best book in United States History from the Association of American Publishers.
Dr. Skidmore teaches specialized courses on United States History, including upper-level and graduate courses on women, gender and sexuality.
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.

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
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