Before Gender

An expansive exploration of the exciting lives of 30 trans people from 1850-1950 that radically changes everything you’ve been told about transgender history

Focusing on 30 influential individuals who are all but unknown today, activist, writer, and educator Eli Erlick highlights how trans people of the past were much more vibrant, creative, and respected than in the popular imagination. These remarkable stories range from romance to rebellion and mystery to murder, all exploring the grit, joy, and survival of trans people before the word gender entered our vocabulary. Together, each narrative provides new insights into the self-determination of transgender figures that will change the world for trans people today.

Organized in 4 parts, each section corresponds to today’s controversies over gender identity:

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  Kids features 7 stories of young trans people, including brothers Mark and David Ferrow, who became two of the first children to access transgender medical treatment following overwhelming support from their friends, family, and neighbors.


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  Activists follows 9 influential individuals, like Sally-Tom, a trans woman recently freed from slavery, who won the first known government approval for a legal change of sex, and Gerda von Zobeltitz, a trans countess who instigated a forgotten LGBTQ+ riot 40 years before Stonewall.


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  Workers tracks the lives of 7 figures like snake charmer Elise Marks and florist John Berger, who were forced to hide their trans status to find employment, love, and safety.


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  Athletes highlights 5 competitors, including the world’s greatest female billiards player of the 1910s, trans woman Francis Anderson.

Bold and visionary, Erlick’s debut lifts these stories from the depths of the archives to narrate trans lives in a way that has never been attempted before.