Interview with Gloria Allen

Best known as the founder of Charm School at the Center on Halstead, an LGBT community center in Chicago, IL, Gloria Allen shares 70 years worth of experiences in the rich oral history. Allen, or “Mama Gloria” as she is called by her Charm School students, is the recipient of a Trans 100 Legacy Award, a former licensed practical nurse, and a performer. In this interview, she speaks cogently about her early medical transition in the 1970s, dating, and her relationship with the Church. Allen’s legacy as “Mama Gloria” was recently honored in the play, Charm. She discusses her role in beginning a “charm school” for trans people in Chicago, her understanding of gender and sexuality today and current LGBT politics.

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Item Information:

Identifier: 3j333251b
Collection: Oral Histories with People of Color
Institution: Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, University of Minnesota
Creator(s): Allen, Gloria
Jenkins, Andrea
Publisher: University of Minnesota Minneapolis Libraries
Date Created: Apr. 26, 2016
Genre: Oral Histories
Transcriptions
Subject(s): Center on Halstead
Charm (play)
Charm school
Gloria Allen
Mixed Blood Theater
Precious Davis
Trans 100 Legacy Award
Places: Illinois > Cook County > City of Chicago > Chicago
Kentucky > Warren County > Bowling Green
Topic(s): Actors
Black people
Church
Entertainers
Gender realignment surgery
Marriage
Nurses
Older people
Singers
Transitioning (Gender)
Women
Resource Type: Moving image
Text
Language: English
Related URL: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/search?facets%5Bcollection_name_s%5D%5B%5D=Transgender+Oral+History+Project&q=transgender
Rights: Copyright undetermined
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