{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/vq2s46k906/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Oral history interview with Vanity Reid-Deterville"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["3/4/22"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["Vanity Reid-Deterville is an advocate and activist born in Charleston, S.C., and became co-director of F.A.M. (Folks Aiming for More) LGBTQ center of Durham as well as working to promote theÊMOJA Arts Festival in Charleston, South Carolina."]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture"]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Note"]},"value":{"en":["For more information contact the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, 125 Bull Street, Charleston, SC 29424."]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Statement"]},"value":{"en":["All rights reserved."]}},{"label":{"en":["Interviewee"]},"value":{"en":["Reid Deterville, Vanity"]}},{"label":{"en":["Interviewer"]},"value":{"en":["Brown, Millicent E., 1948-"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Topical"]},"value":{"en":["African Americans","Gender Identity","Gender-nonconforming people","LGBT activism","Transgender people","Activism","Political participation","Community organization"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Personal or Corporate"]},"value":{"en":["Scott, Walter, 1965-2015","Emanuel AME Church (Charleston, S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston (S.C.)","North Charleston (S.C.)","Durham (N.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic County"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston County (S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Contributing Institution"]},"value":{"en":["Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture"]}},{"label":{"en":["Media Type"]},"value":{"en":["Oral Histories"]}},{"label":{"en":["Resource Locator"]},"value":{"en":["AMN 1168.001.033"]}},{"label":{"en":["Digitization Specifications"]},"value":{"en":["Mp4 derivative audio and video created using Davinci Resolve. 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(Folks Aiming for More) LGBTQ center of Durham as well as working to promote theÊMOJA Arts Festival in Charleston, South Carolina."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/291/384/small/vanity-deterville.mp4_1757958784.jpg?1757958785","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - vanity-deterville.mp4"]},"duration":2561.599,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/291/384/small/vanity-deterville.mp4_1757958784.jpg?1757958785","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-cofc.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/291/384/original/vanity-deterville.mp4?1757958782","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":2561.599,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["vanity-deterville.docx [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=0.0,0.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay, can we get your name, your full name?  ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=0.0,4.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nFull name is Vanity Reid Deterville.  ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=4.0,7.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. And hometown or place of origin, however you define that? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=7.0,16.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nHometown would be Charleston, South Carolina, West of the Ashley specifically. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=16.0,22.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. And how do you currently describe or identify yourself as far as what you're doing or working? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=22.0,34.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nI transitioned from Charleston to Durham, North Carolina in the summer of 2020. And I began my role here at the LGBTQ center of Durham as the Gender Resources Advocacy Support Program Director. I have since transitioned to the Co-Director of project FAM and the Director of Gender Advocacy and Support Services here at The Center. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=34.0,59.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. Now you ran that kind of fast for me, project, did you say FAM? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=59.0,65.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nFAM. F-A-M. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=65.0,66.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. Which stands for? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=66.0,68.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nFolks Aiming for More. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=68.0,71.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOh, nice. Okay. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=71.0,72.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nYes. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=72.0,73.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. Talk a little bit about that. Just help us understand first what The Center is and was, and how that led to your now being Co-Director of this other program. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=73.0,92.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nSo the LGBTQ Center of Durham acts as a hub, a community hub here in Durham, which is already a politically progressive city. It has historical notes of activism very deeply rooted here. You've got scholars like Pauli Murray, who've called Durham home and you've got pretty illustrious academic institutions like NCCU, Duke University, UNC. So there is a charge to keep of progressivism here I think in the city. In acting as a hub for the LGBT community, we've been able to assess the community and play a role in the Durham county community health assessment report, of which we were the authors for the LGBTQ chapter concerning violence and health. Within those reports, we were able to see that access to healthcare, the housing market, food security were understood but prevalent issues in the community. And so the aim for the program that I first took the director's position for, we had it written in our mission to normalize and heighten joy in the lives of people in the community. \n\nBut in order to normalize and heighten joy, we needed to attack the social determinants that were negatively and adversely affecting our community head on. So job preparedness, job security, financial literacy, connection to community, social networks, access to healthcare. Those were some of the things coupled with an ongoing pandemic that we've been trying to work towards. One of the ways that I have specifically been working with The Center is overseeing a mutual aid fund, which we've been using to disperse in $500 mini grant payments to folks who've been affected by the pandemic. And for the past two years since March of 2020, the fund has administered a little over a $100,000 to folks in the Triangle area. Another way that we have been helping folks is through a closet initiative, a pantry initiative. We also, more directly I, have been working on a pathways to employment pipeline of which I have a group of local businesses and agencies that I have an established rapport with that I will be creating an establishing MOU between their agency and my agency, so that it can act as a more structured pipeline and employment referral system. \n\nWhen we have clients that come into us for funding, for assistance, we can assess if they've been a victim of domestic violence, we can assess if they need access to healthcare, we can assess if they need job preparedness, we can assess if they need employment placement and we can work towards placing them in these instances to heighten and normalize the joy in their lives. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=92.0,291.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou sound like you have just found your niche. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=291.0,298.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nIt's interesting how I gained employment at The Center, because it was one of those moments when those teachings by my grandfather, is not about what you know who you know, actually came to the forefront. I had been invited in 2019 to serve as a plenary speaker for the point source youth symposium, which was at the time sponsored by the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. So it was at Emory in Atlanta. And since then, I've now served as a consultant for Point Source symposium. But when I was first invited to speak, I was with people from Charleston and I crossed paths with other advocates in the community and from other states. After I got off of that plenary session, my current employer and current employees, coworkers came up to me and said that they wanted me to work for them. This was when I was still a junior at the college. \n\nAnd so I told them I would need to finish school first before I could commit to anything. They even tried to get me to start as early as January 2020 and I told them I needed to finish my last semester, not knowing we would be told to stay at home after spring break anyway. So fast forward to graduation, I had kept in contact with them all through senior year. And they had flown me out 2019 to see their pride celebration, to see what Durham was like, to get a sense of what Durham was, to try to court me to bring me here. And it worked. And I was offered a position after going through with it and was able to move less than a month or so after graduating from C of C into this role in North Carolina. So I'd say it was destined to happen, but I kind of look at it as happenstance also because I just happened to be networking with these people at this symposium. And it paid off in a major way. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=298.0,432.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWell, they're going to be a lot of folks mad at you for how you seamlessly moved from one stage to the other, but we're happy for you for sure. You know that the purpose of this project documenting the art is to really kind of talk if you will, about the Charleston community and your experiences here. And you are Charleston native, did you go right from high school to the College of Charleston? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=432.0,467.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nNo, I did not. My journey through academia has been very intertwined to my identity and it was unconventional. Before transitioning and before presenting to the world as I do now, I graduated high school in 2012 at Academic Magnet High School and I accepted a scholarship at Morehouse College and I moved to Atlanta, Georgia where I attended my freshman and sophomore year. That came to a halt when I needed to do some personal soul searching and reassessing as the trajectory of my life and how I wanted to be perceived in this world. I did that, I took the time I needed to, I returned to school after moving back home from Atlanta to Charleston. In 2018, I returned to the College of Charleston and finished my degree in 2020. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=467.0,538.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYeah. What was your major? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=538.0,538.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nI started off school as a Political Science, Spanish double major. I graduated with a political science degree. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=538.0,547.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nDo you mind me asking just as another native Charlestonian, was that the source of a good bit of anguish for you to come back, especially having transitioned and you say you lived at home? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=547.0,565.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nYeah, I came back home to soul search and I won't say that every day was peachy. There were definitely hard times re-acclimating into a city that some would consider not as huge or as expansive in ways as the city of Atlanta. And- \n\nMillicent Brown","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=565.0,587.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): \n\nThat's an understatement. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=587.0,589.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nYeah. I think it's way understated. I had established friendships in Atlanta and I had seen ways of life that I was not privy to while in Atlanta. So when I came back home, I felt like I was almost in a time capsule because it was going to take longer time for me to do what I needed to in a city like Charleston with the structures set up. Social structures in a city like Charleston, that aren't necessarily as strong in cities like Atlanta because of the entertainment and the proportion of people of color and just the different walks of life that make their way through that city. So I experienced some hardship when it came to finally bracing the news to certain family members and certain circles that I was in. It was a culture shock, not just for me, but for everybody that I was attached to at that time. Some people adapted, some people didn't, but that went along with me finding my tribe and my cause. I found support in those areas. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=589.0,657.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWas that surprising to you that there was that level of support in Charleston? I mean, you maybe had to look for it to find it, but were you somewhat taken back by the fact that there were structures in place to be supportive? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=657.0,676.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nI was because I figured I would've known about them before. But sometimes you don't know about it until you absolutely need it. So the circles, the activism, the organizations that I became a part of leading up to me returning to school, some of those discoveries were brand new. Some of the friendships that I developed were brand new. And a lot of the advocacy that I did was based on personal experiences. So it didn't feel brand new. The advocacy, the activism in the street, a lot of the things that I was rallying for with friends and with colleagues in these circles had been issues that had impacted me personally. So while the friendships and the structures seemed like a new discovery, doing the work didn't necessarily seem as new. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=676.0,733.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nSo talk about that if you will, because again, we really want to get the best sense of what was going on. Now you're coming back at 2018, the Emanuel massacre has occurred a few years earlier. There are certainly still ongoing kinds of oppressions that are obvious, there's a lot of stuff being said about police audits and the urging of Charleston and North Charleston to do equity analyses. I mean, there's stuff happening. Can you tell us sort of how you played into that or any of those actions? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=733.0,783.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nIt's so interesting. So I returned to Charleston in 2014 and the next year Walter Scott was murdered. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=783.0,797.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOh, I'm sorry, you were actually already back here. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=797.0,800.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nYeah. I just didn't return to school until 2018, but I had returned to Charleston in 2014 and I had a few gigs here and there, as well as taking some online classes to keep myself busy before I decided to return to complete my four year degree. In that in between time is when a lot of the soul searching and struggling happened, while working in food and beverage and retail downtown Charleston. I was also living down town and getting very acclimated with the East Side community and the developments that were happening on the East Side. I was seeing a spring up of construction and with the city and the Board of Architectural Review called short-term rentals, which we refer to as Airbnbs. I was seeing folks move out. I think during that time, I was seeing some of the most drastic development on the East Side. \n\nAnd that was when I started my relationship with the East Side Community Development Corporation. Miss Latonya over there, Kwadjo Campbell at the time was over there and we developed a relationship. I was living in one of the properties who Ms. Angela Brooks was the landlord of, I learned of her families ownership of property, I learned of the Brooks motel, I learned of a few things that have changed over the decades in terms of black property ownership from just living on the East Side. I went to middle school with Walter Scott's son, rest in peace, he just recently passed also. And so that helped me personally, because I was at the time just a few degrees removed from that happening to my father or a male in my family who I was related to. I went to school with this man's namesake son. \n\nAnd so that felt very personal to me. And then just months later, Emanuel Nine happened. I went to school with Grayson Doctor. I went to school with people whose parents were murdered in the church that night. We were raised together, we all talk to each other still to this day. And I felt personally called to be informed about how we were going to reconcile, if we were at all these kinds of racial tensions. The moment the Emanuel Nine happened, I was in Marion Square, eating Chipotle on my work lunch break as it was happening. And I remember first responders fleeing down Calhoun Street to respond to it. So the very early moments of people discovering what had happened, I was outside a block away watching it unfold. And when I returned to work, we were all frightened because we knew something had happened, but we didn't get the news brief until maybe an hour later about how many people had lost their lives. \n\nSome of the business owners on King Street and managers on King Street at that time, largely white, they either had a lackluster response to it, or just didn't know how to respond in the moment of it. And that also helped open my eyes as to the urgency that certain folks have on certain massacres, horrible incidents, just the urgency of people to care about something that might not directly impact them, I was made more aware of that just based off of the responses to that day that I was watching. I noticed the very passive response from many people and what they called racial reconciliation for the city during that time. And I think that lit a fire in me to be more vocal. \n\nAnd it was shortly after that, I began my transition into Vanity, into the world knows me now as. Not long after the Emanuel Nine, I was riding a bicycle downtown Charleston and struck by a car from behind going about 60 miles an hour, which landed me in MUSC for about a month with a total of four surgeries over a quarter million dollar in hospital bills and resulting in seven months of physical therapy to learn how to walk again. The place where the incident happened was on the Legare Bridge, coming from West Ashley to downtown Charleston. A bridge where a pedestrian bike lane was supposed to have been constructed years ago, a bridge that has supposed to been updated decades ago, a drawbridge that is antiquated technology and infrastructure at this point. And I used my broken bones and x-rays as some of my first entrances to Charleston activism, as I faced Mayor Summey’s son at the county of North Charleston council meeting, and explain to him how very urgent and immediate a need for a bike lane and a pedestrian lane across that kind of infrastructure was needed. \n\nI explained to him the urgency required on something like that, because I was told that it would've been safer, by one of the county councilmen to travel over the James Island bridge with my bike, than it would have the West Ashley bridge. To which we had to remind them years prior someone had lost their lives doing the same thing. Again, I'm being shown the sense of urgency on life or death matters that certain political members in the county and in the city have. And it's enlightening, it's eye opening. \n\nSo those were some of the early things that happened to me that lit the fire of me being involved in activism in Charleston locally. Not to mention hate bias related incidents towards the community, my involvement with We Are Family, my public display of me transitioning from who I was to who I am now, in a collaborative piece between the LGBT community and the MOJA Arts Festival under the direction of Elder Carlie Towne and Queen Quet [Marquetta Goodwine]. I helped to write the first play that showed the intersections of the Gullah community and the LGBT community. So I think my life as a whole- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=800.0,1238.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nTell us the name of that play while you're talking about- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1238.0,1240.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nThe name of the play was Sugar in the Grits. And I used that title because it's a contentious topic in the Lowcountry, on if people are going to season their grits with sugar or with cheese or with salt and pepper or with whatever. And I used that title because I felt like it paralleled to my repositioning back at home, as I'm figuring how I want to proceed my life forward, but also holding on to dearly the culture that came with me being brought up in a city like Charleston. So it was then titled Sugar in the Grits and it was, excuse me, for MOJA Arts Festival 2017 or 18? 16. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1240.0,1293.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOur notes say 2017. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1293.0,1296.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\n2017. I think it was 2017, yes. 2017 and that was elder Carlie's introduction to a relationship with We Are Family and our introduction to a relationship, Gullah Geechee Angel Network and the rapport that Queen Quet and I now have, I owe to my involvement with that play and with the MOJA Arts Festival. Seeing how tourism impacts Charleston and how certain aspects are romanticized, I saw an importance in collaborating with MOJA, as I feel sometimes the festival itself is overshadowed by other tourism events that happen in the city like Piccolo Spoleto, or other festivals, Food and Wine that happened in Charleston. So I learned the importance of tourism to Charleston County as well and how the city is sold to bring in new dollars from all across everywhere. And I found value in that also. \n\nThe play itself was just a coming of age story about what I had experienced up until the point where I had my personal reckoning to the Vanity. Housing insecurity, substance abuse, familial rejection and re-acclimating into society or common themes that I discussed in the play. Because the issues are all prevalent and they play a huge role into, if an LGBTQ black person, because I have to be clear about how the experiences differ in the community as it pertains to race, they are vastly different. And as a black LGBTQ person, I talked about some of the issues that to this day are still very prevalent in terms of the substances and what types of substances are being abused. As of the education that goes into people understanding experiences of LGBT people, and the policy, and the stigma that surrounds each of those, which could potentially lead to someone being put out of their home and end up experiencing homelessness. So those were some of the things I talked about in the play and how they helped flower this beautiful person you see now. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1296.0,1460.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nFor sure. You mentioned a couple of people who obviously were advocates and supporters of you, Elder Carlie and Queen Quet. Can you talk a little bit about those who offered resistance to the extent that you're comfortable, but we just like to know how this community is responding to not just Sugar in the Grits, but just to this whole idea that the community is a part of the broader area? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1460.0,1508.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nWell, I experienced resistance from a few male figures in Charleston. I took a step away from personally attending church so that I could forge my own spiritual path and figure out what that was and what that was going to look like while I govern myself I think on some Christian principles, I no longer identify as a Christian. And I'm fine with that because I've been able to see how spirituality can manifest in many different ways. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1508.0,1547.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhat brought that on? So what- ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1547.0,1548.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nWhat brought that on was when I... What steered me in that direction was misogyny that I experienced in the church. And there were oppressive forces I was witnessing and experiencing in the church, which let me know that the church is just a building and the spirituality is what we should be guiding ourselves by. I saw a lot of overlap in political leadership locally in Charleston from clergy men and clergy persons. And so I saw where the circles were overlapping each other and it was very heavily entrenched. But I understand the reason, because our church was The Center for political activism. So I understand how advocacy and activism have evolved since that was the only place we could convene for certain things, but I've now seen how it overlaps, and we have way more spaces to which we can convene for the same purposes. \n\nIn my own recognition of that, there were folks who knew me from my previous presentation in church that saw me active and vocal. And at these county council meetings and these city council meetings, and they saw the Queen Quets and the Elder Carlies and the Kwadjo Campbells, and the Dr. Browns on my shoulder and talking to me in these spaces, and I believe have rubbed some the wrong way. I had people who were former associate pastors of mine that were advisors for clubs on College of Charleston's campus. And so people were seeing me be active, just not in the church and presenting differently. And while it made some feel warm, it was an uncomfortable and an unfamiliar feeling, I know for some men who are clergy leaders, who are also in local activism. Because someone who's looked like me has not been as vocal or as to the forefront in these movements before, because there wasn't considered space for someone like me in a lot of these spaces and lot of these conversations, the credibility given to someone like me, hasn't always existed. \n\nAnd I'm grateful that I know enough people to be plugged in and to be able to have a heavy weight with my voice and some of the activism I've done. I've just experienced some men who I've known from the church be shocked at the affirmation that I receive from others in the advocacy circles. And it's telling, it's telling it speaks to more barriers. We've got to continue to deconstruct and rebuild within our own community. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1548.0,1726.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nAnd I don't mean to keep dredging negative experiences, but you mentioned male clergy. Can you talk about the reception from women in the church? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1726.0,1743.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nWomen in the church, I have had very positive experiences with. And some relationships that I still hold very dear to me, for instance, the Delta secondary advisor to the College of Charleston Miss Patricia Marzett, was an associate pastor of mine at Macedonia AME Church. And she and I are still very close, I'm cool with her son Patrick and she was one of the people who was able to see me evolve from a young adolescent in church to a young adult in college. She was just one of the few relationships that went well. Tyeka Grant, a long time resident of the East Side community and who does work with the ECDC, again seen me from young adolescent at church and to my grown involvement in local politics and in college. And those are just some of the few relationships from women who are active in the church. I wouldn't say they aren't fully indoctrinated or devout Christians, but they're very heavily involved in the church. And they're also equally involved in local activism, and we've been able to bond our relationships over the years in both spaces. So I've received overwhelmingly good relationships and good reactions from women in the church that overlap into the activism circles. But there is still some unlearning in terms of male centered movements and male centered rhetoric that we have to work on. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1743.0,1867.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nFor sure. It's interesting. You are quite articulate about the things that have happened for you and the trajectory of your life. Can I ask you to step back a little bit and share with us beyond Vanity? Can you say that you see growth and change in Charleston generally, especially in the black community when it comes to LGBTQ issues and inclusion? I'm just trying to ask you, yes you've been supported. Do you see the extent to which that support can be offered to others? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1867.0,1924.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nYes, I do. I have seen younger people in the community who are trying to find themselves, have reached out to me since I've moved away, but hubs like We Are Family that have been led by a black person and now a Spanish speaking person for the past several years it is of utmost importance to have LGBT community based organizations led by people of color to emphasize the intersection of our community. I think because of the representation at certain agencies like this Palmetto Community Care which does STI screening, We Are Family, the Alliance for Full Acceptance, the Charleston Pride board, all of which I had personal relationships with. And it helped because we were able to inform these organizations about how we should be tethering, programming and the places we should be having programming. And the people from certain neighborhoods we should be drawing out to attend these programmings. \n\nI've seen it benefit, but I also have seen the need for growth to continue because it's still the South and it's still going to operate by the social norms of the South. So there has been change, there has been benefit for younger people coming up in the scene or in the community, I think it still largely depends on state led policy, which will help shift public opinion on how to deal with certain things. Now, what I will say is in my black community, I am seeing more and more expansive thought as it comes to my generation, because we're challenging ourselves not to operate within so many confines, if that makes sense. We're challenging ourselves to grow on the things that we eat, on the things that we practice within our faith. We're challenging ourselves to expand our thought on what black love and black relationships can look like. \n\nWe're challenging ourselves to thinking about what the nuclear family must look like and can look like, with the home can look like, what education can look like, what things we should be talking about and a more structured uniformed way the younger the child is to prevent them from ignorance and finding out or learning a lesson the hard way. We're challenging each other to think about ways that we can use and value how we've been brought up, but also expands and adapt as the generation goes on. I'm seeing a lot of challenging in our own communities that I think is valuable. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=1924.0,2128.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nI really appreciate the fact that you have such a wonderful way of combining all of these social justice issues. And LGBTQ is a segment of this broader challenge as you said, whether it's about jobs and health and food. I mean, it's just a language that I think is so helpful. And so I'm going to pivot from that to ask you, do you think it takes people having to be individually and personally involved in order to get galvanized? Does it have to be your sister who transitions to make you begin to appreciate? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2128.0,2187.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nRight. That's a great question. That's a great question because when people ask me what inspired me to do this and I'm just like, I haven't moved or rallied on anything that I haven't experienced personally. And maybe that's a little pessimist of me, but I don't expect many people to intrinsically want to rally on behalf of something that has not personally impacted them or someone that they know, just because we tend to look out for our best interests as humans. So I, feel personally to me, that there needs to be some kind of personal calling towards truly activating on the cause of something. I always ask people, we talk about a lot of these acceptances and protections and expansive language and inclusive, rhetoric and thought in theory, but I always ask people, how is this going to apply to your house and your children? Because that's where it matters the most. So in a way, I do feel like you have to have experienced it or have someone who did experience it, because that's what takes the activism from a superficial to a deeply entrenched level, I believe. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2187.0,2276.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYeah. Thank you. One of the things that we want our interviewees to know is that, we don't know who will hear your words down the road. It might be five years, it might be twenty five years. But what is it that you want to say to those who may hear you in the future? What is it that based on all of your experiences, both in Charleston and Atlanta and Durham, what are the words of wisdom for lack of a better phrasing that you want to pass on about this moment in time that you've been living? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2276.0,2329.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nI would encourage people and my whole like impetus in being involved with this project is knowing that my words will be seen or heard by somebody down the road. So I already came into it with that understanding. And I think that's what fueled me even more to agree to do this, is just knowing the value of being able to retrace words. Just days ago, queer individuals who are in Durham or establishing their identity, told me and reached out to me that they had discovered my play after searching gender nonconformity and gender expansiveness in Gullah Geechee, my play popped up. I popped up at that intersection of that search and I was too taken aback because sometimes I suppressed the thought that I actually created that play. But what I'm going to say is I would challenge anybody who happens to hear these words or see me or whatever my information is popping up as, to think about life beyond Charleston or beyond the Lowcountry, but not forget about it. \n\nAnd when I say, think about life beyond, think about the systems that go into fostering the environment where days go on business as usual in the Lowcountry, in the state of South Carolina. Once you can begin to look at those systems, you can begin to understand the policies, but in place by each of those systems and the environment that's fostered around a person like you. I always say, as a transgender person, I live a very heavily policy centered life because the acceptance we have is very politicized and it has been for the past several years. So if you follow the systems and you see the policies put in place by these systems, you can begin to see how those who create the policies have a very specific foresight for the life of a person like you. \n\nAnd you can begin to operate beyond that, knowing about how the economics flow in our state, knowing how hard it is for someone to economically and financially elevate to a different tax bracket depending on the tax bracket they were born into and the area of Charleston they were born into, depending on the neighborhood and the schools that they were born into and the social networks and social capital that they were born into. Look at the systems, look at the institutions, look at the access, follow the money. Think about where you are in terms of beyond where you are, so that you can define what life and the trajectory for life can look like for you and not what others believe it should look like. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2329.0,2513.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou're optimistic about the future, especially the future of inclusion and acceptance both on race, sexual orientation, all of that. I mean generally, do you think things are going to get better? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2513.0,2534.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE \n\nI think we are going to come to a point where language is so expensive, that the many different presentations of life that we'll see in the years to come cannot be contained by the language that we have. And so for that, I'm hopeful. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2534.0,2552.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nVanity, thank you so much. We wish you a lot of luck with all the work you're doing. Stay in touch with us. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2552.0,2559.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384/transcript/84166/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"VANITY DETERVILLE\n\nThank you. Thank you. It was good speaking with you.  \n\n ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/160074/file/291384#t=2559.0,2561.599"}]}]}]}