The Case:
Scouring Manhattan bookstores our contributor came across the 250-page life story of a woman named Diana Fredericks.
The book, Diana: A Strange Autobiography, tells a sympathetic story of how one woman discovers that she is a lesbian. Few books dealt realistically with lesbianism before the 1960’s.
This book came out in 1939 with this note: “The publishers wish it expressly understood that this is a true story, the first of its kind ever offered to the general reading public.”
Experts call this book groundbreaking as one of the first works of gay literature with a happy ending.
History Detectives sets out to find the author. Who is Diana Fredericks? And is this story true?
Document: Diana
Full introduction, publisher’s note and forward to Diana: A Strange Autobiography.
Season 8, Episode 6
Detective:
Tukufu Zuberi
Location:California, Washington, D.C., and New York
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