Mina Carson Interview on the History of HST 368

As Professor Mina Carson has previously shared an interview for the OSU Queer Archive, this interview primarily focuses on the development and history of the class she taught for 25 years, HST 368 “Lesbian and Gay Movements in Modern America.” A course name which she mentions that she hopes to change to something more inclusive of the diverse identities in queer communities.

Carson begins with her course’s main topics and objectives and then moves on to its structure. Using a wide array of videos thanks to OSU’s subscription to Kanopy, an academic-style video-streaming website, she explains that she mainly sticks to a chronological time frame in terms of historical events covered in the course. In addition to the videos, Carson holds discussions and reflections based on assigned written materials. More recently, Carson has partnered her class with the OSU Queer Archive and assigns a term-wide group project to interview a individual within or involved with the LGBTQ community to add to the OSQA. The interview then migrates towards the development of the course, from when it was first formulated, to the expansion to “primitive” e-campus classes, and the differences between the type of course styles. She touches on co-teaching the course and the support the course received from other faculty on campus. The sociopolitical climate at the time of the course’s creation in the 1990s was brought into play. Carson points out that, thankfully, there was a strong LGBTQ (specifically lesbian) presence in Benton and Linn Counties. She states that in the 1990s, current events played a huge role in the class, including major Oregon Citizens Alliance ballot measures and community activism, and she notes that cultural climate plays an important role in her teaching/subject matter.

From there, she talks about the Difference, Power, and Discrimination program within OSU, and how the goal of creating the class was to expand it into that program. However, HST 368 began as a history class, and is an option for majors and minors within the History program. She later discusses the schedule, size, and timing of the class and how those impact the class environment, and she expands on the older, no-longer used material previously assigned in the course. The topic of “coming out” comes up. Carson remarks on her struggles with this monumental decision in regards to sharing her personal life with her students and expands further into comparison with other LGBTQ individuals her age. She did note that she is more comfortable walking into the class every day in comparison to the past, and that the students seem to have a more laid back approach to sexual and gender identity. Lastly, she touches more on the progression of student culture and the shifting variety of students who choose to take the class.

Mina Carson was born in 1953 in San Francisco, CA and grew up in Brunswick, Maine, where she spent most of her childhood. Although the town was a liberal college town, Carson does not recall homosexuality being discussed in positive terms, which led to decades of her hiding her sexual identity. Through fear, being uncomfortable, and after swearing secrecy to herself, Carson came out after graduate school while living in Missouri where she had her first academic job. After moving to Corvallis in 1989, Carson got involved in the community. Carson teaches a history course focused on Gay and Lesbian activism in the United States. The class project in this course has students conduct oral histories with members of the LGBTQ+ community for the Oregon State University Queer Archives.