Haleigh Marcello

History Ph.D. candidate | Public scholar

Picture of Orange County LGBT activists marching with signs reading "UNDER ATTACK FIGHT BACK ORANGE COUNTY COME OUT"

Dissertation "'We Are at War Here': Gay Rights and Suburban Space in Orange County, California During the 1980s" (in progress)

Since the summer of 2019, I have been examining the gay rights movement in Orange County, California during the 1980s as a part of my dissertation on suburban space and its effects on gay activism.

Attendees of the 1977 National Women's Conference hold a press conference in front of a banner reding "FEMINISTS"

In a California History article coauthored by Stephanie Narrow, Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, and myself, we explore the histories of lesbian women and women of color as part of the California delegation to the National Women's Conference. 

Winner of the 2023 Richard J. Orsi Prize for best article published in California History.

Attendees of the National Women's Conference hold signs and banners

This document project was published in the September 2022 issue of Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000. Through an introduction and a collection of primary source materials, it implores readers to ask: how did lesbians and women of color fight for rights and inclusion as California delegates to the National Women's Conference?

Attendees of the 1977 National Women's Conference celebrate the opening of the conference on stage in front of a banner reading "WOMAN"

I was part of a research group at the University of California, Irvine creating a digital humanities project on California delegates the 1977 National Women's Conference. I created digital exhibits on Carol Pendell and Teresa DeCrescanzo.

I was part of a research group creating a digital humanities project on the 1977 National Women's Conference. The project includes biographies of all of the delegates, as well as summaries of key issues that were spoken about at the conference. 

Image of two women on horseback. One woman's jacket reads "Okhahoma or Bust!" Above the women, text reads: "On Our Asses 'Til the E.R.A. Passes."

This document project was published in the March 2021 issue of Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000. Through an introduction and a collection of primary source materials, it implores readers to ask: were California NOW chapters ahead of national NOW on lesbian rights activism?

A photograph of California suffragists, with Lillian Cash Hough in the center.

Biographical Sketches of Suffragists Lillian Cash Hough and Sarah Wilde Houser (2019)

I authored biographical sketches of California suffragists Lillian Cash Hough and Sarah Wilde Houser for the Online Biographical Dictionary of Militant Woman Suffragists, 1913-1920.