Out in Oak Lawn: A Queer History of Dallas
Out in Oak Lawn: A Queer History of Dallas is a student-produced podcast series focusing on the history of the Oak Lawn neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. Using archival sources and interviews with past and present queer icons, we are telling the stories of how Oak Lawn became a queer hotspot. Episodes explore the early history of Oak Lawn, queer cowboy culture, businesses and nightlife, the lesbian experience, political activism, and the what the neighborhood is like today. This ensures that Oak Lawn’s history will not be lost due to the passage of time and will live on through this digital podcast.
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Episodes
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Introducing Out in Oak Lawn: A Queer History of Dallas, a podcast about one of the largest gayborhoods in the US.
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Oak Lawn: The Formation of a Queer Community, discusses the early history of the Gayborhood. With the running theme of community, the listener will hear what Oak Lawn was like pre-community with regular police raids and attacks on queer individuals. The listener will then hear about the creation of the community. By highlighting the the first gay support group, the Circle of Friends and the queer church the Cathedral of Hope, the listener will be transported through staples in the history of Oak Lawn.
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Out in the West asks us to ponder, what is the significance of Oak Lawn’s location within Texas? By taking the listener inside the Round-Up Bar and Saloon, and to patrons who frequent Vaquero bars, the listener will become more knowledgeable about the relations and similarities between queer and western culture.
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Proudly Open for Business takes the listener on a journey through the businesses of the Oak Lawn neighborhood. It will inform the listener of past and present queer businesses within the neighborhood, including the Station 4 nightclub, the Curious Times bookstore, and the Crossroads Market general store.
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Girl’s Night Out discusses the disappearances of lesbian bars throughout the country and explains why Sue Ellen’s, the lesbian bar in Oak Lawn, has remained open and thriving. In this episode, the listener will understand the inclusivity of lesbian spaces and learn the histories of male privilege and lesbian history.
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Acting Out shows the history of Texan activism in the Oak Lawn Neighborhood. This episode discusses the history of HIV/AIDS in Dallas, the “Gay Robin Hood,” and prominent activists in the queer community.
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Oak Lawn Today discusses the current state of Dallas's gayborhood, as well as current issues within it. We discuss gentrification, Drag Bans, and restrictive laws that affect the LGBTQ+ community. We also explore the potential birth of a new gayborhood in North Oak Cliff.
How We Made Out in Oak Lawn
This podcast is the result of a class project in Texas LGBTQ+ History taught by Dr. Wesley Phelps at the University of North Texas. We were initially split into 6 groups, each focusing on an episode of the series. We went to the University library and conducted archival research in the Special Collections department. Using these archival sources, we developed topics for our individual episodes. We then took a class visit to the Oak Lawn neighborhood. We met up with Robert Emery and Kathy Jack, who gave us a personal tour of the neighborhood and taught us about its rich history. We used those firsthand experiences to formulate our episodes, honing in on our topics and research. We each interviewed individuals who were relevant to the episode topics. We drafted our scripts and revised them over a period of a few weeks. Finally, we were ready to start recording the episodes, putting all of our research together, including music and sound effects for a final product.