“No Tears for Alden:” A Speculative History of Black Female Impersonation and “Quare” Institutions in Interwar Washington, D.C.

Abstract

 This article recovers the life of Alden Garrison, an early twentieth century Washington, D.C. Black female impersonator from coverage in the Black Press and places him in a broader context of Black life.  Strategically employing speculation and conjecture to restore his agency and offer insight into his private life that has been overlooked, this work argues that traditionally heteronormative Black institutions such as the Black Press were transformed into “quare” institutions as a result of their connection to Alden and other female impersonators. To this end, a micro-analysis of Alden’s life stands in for a history of the personal lives of Black female impersonators in the early twentieth century and demonstrates their complex “outsider-within” status within Black communities.