Phillipe Cunningham Oral History

Phillipe Cunningham Oral History

This video of Andrea Jenkins interviewing Phillipe Cunningham is one entry in the Transgender Oral History Project, an initiative of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota. The project, which comprises 200 interviews, aims to uplift the voices of trans and gender nonconforming people throughout the Upper Midwest. According to Jenkins, the project’s oral historian, “the goal and the purpose of the project is to really provide context, provide awareness to change the cultural narrative around the transgender community by listening and sharing the stories of transgender people.”

Phillipe Cunningham has worked for years as a teacher and youth worker, and for the past several years has been involved with the City of Minneapolis’s Youth Violence Prevention Executive Committee as well as serving as a senior policy aide and advisor to the Minneapolis mayor’s office. During the interview he speaks to how his life experiences as a multiracial Black trans gay man have affected both his personal life and political aspirations. Aside from heading the Transgender Oral History Project, interviewer Andrea Jenkins is also a celebrated poet, artist, and activist. Prior to her work as an oral historian, she was a policy aide to several Minneapolis city councilmembers for twelve years. Both Cunningham and Jenkins were historically elected to the Minneapolis City Council in November of 2017.

Cunningham, Phillipe (narrator); Jenkins, Andrea (interviewer)

The Transgender Oral History Project: University of Minnesota Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies

09/25/2015

Moving image

English

Oral History