Sears, James T.

• 1951 Aug. 12: James Thomas Sears born in Tipton, Indiana
• 1974: Southern Illinois University, B.S. in history, government, and social psychology Indiana University, M.S. in secondary education
• 1976: Masters of Arts in Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 1983: Anticipating what later came to be known as "queer pedagogy," published Sexuality: Taking off the Masks, in the journal Changing Schools
• 1983 - 1984 : Trinity University, San Antonio, Visiting Instructor
• 1984: Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies and Sociology, Indiana University-Bloomington; thesis analyzed teacher education programs at the University of Indiana
• 1984 - 1989 : University of South Carolina-Columbia, Assistant Professor
• 1988: Published first article on gay issues in education, Peering into the Well of Loneliness, in Social Issues and Education
• 1987 - 1988 : President of the National Curriculum Teachers Network
• 1988: Founder and first Chairperson of the Lesbian and Gay Studies Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association
• 1988 - 1991 : Received grants from the United States Information Agency
• 1989 - 1992 : South Carolina Policy Center, Senior Research Associate
• 1989 - 1993 : University of South Carolina-Columbia, Associate Professor Editor of Empathy: A Magazine of Homophobia Education
• 1989 - 1998 : Editor, Teaching Education Journal
• 1990: Published Teaching and Thinking about Curriculum: Critical Inquiries (co-editor)
• 1991: Publication of Growing up Gay in the South: Race, Gender, and Journeys of the Spirit
• 1992: Lesbian and Gay Educators Award, American Educational Research Association Edited Sexuality and the Curriculum: the Politics and Practices of Sexuality Education
• 1993: Received First Amendment Award from the American Civil Liberties Union
• 1993: Taught controversial course, Christian Fundamentalism and Public Education, University of South Carolina
• 1993 - 1994 : University of Southern California, Visiting Scholar at the Center for Feminist Research
• 1993 - 2004 : Professor of Curriculum Studies, University of South Carolina-Columbia
• 1994 - 1995 : Received grants from the United States Information Agency
• 1995: Outstanding Research Publication Award Association for the Supervision and Curriculum Development Fulbright Senior Scholar, Southeast Asia
• 1997: ONE Institute (National Gay and Lesbian Archives), Research Fellow University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Scholar-in-residence Published Lonely Hunters: an Oral History of Lesbian and Gay Southern Life, 1948-1968
• 1999: Lambda GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) Award for Curriculum, Religion and Public Education Publication of A Dangerous Knowing: Sexuality, Pedagogy, and Popular Culture (co-editor) and Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling (co-editor)
• 2001: Harvard University, Visiting Professor Publication of Rebels, Rubyfruit, and Rhinestones: Queering Space in the Stonewall South
• 2002: Outstanding Academic Book award for Queering Elementary Education
• 2005 - 2008 : Professor, Penn State University, World Campus
• 2006: Publication of Behind the Mask of the Mattachine: the Hal Call Chronicles and the Early Movement for Homosexual Emancipation
• 2009: Publication of Edwin and John: A Southern Gay Couple's Half Century Journey Together

• 1917 Sept. 20: Harold L. Call born in the state of Missouri
• 1941 - 1945 : Enlisted in the Army; fought in the Pacific and was awarded the Purple Heart
• 1947 - 1952 : With a degree in journalism from University of Missouri, entered newspaper publishing business and eventually moved to Chicago to work for the Kansas City Star's office there
• 1952: Arrested for "lewd acts" in Chicago Moved to San Francisco
• 1953: Call and others led a what has been described as a takeover of the Mattachine Foundation, ousting founder Harry Hay, and subsequently formed the Mattachine Society
• 1954: Hal Call and his business partner, Donald Lucas, founded the Pan-Graphic Press, which published the Mattachine Review, the Dorian Book Review, and the Town Talk, one of the first gay publications to contain advertising and to be distributed free in gay bars
• 1955 Feb.: Began publication of the Mattachine Review
• 1961: Call provided funding and support for the first openly gay man to run for public office in the U.S. - Jose Sarria for San Francisco city supervisor
• 1964: Call attended and participated in a historic conference and retreat between religious leaders and gay rights activists, in Mill Valley, California; the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH) was created out of this meeting, with Call as one of its leaders
• 1964: Call and the gay rights movement highlighted in Life magazine and in a CBS documentary by Mike Wallace, first public statement of homosexuality in the U.S. mainstream media
• 1967: Call gravitated away from Mattachine Society; founded Adonis Bookstore and later, gay video store in San Francisco
• 2000: Death of Hal Call in Daly City, California at the age of 83

• 1938 Mar. 16: John Richard Nichols born in the state of Washington
• 1961: Nichols and Dr. Frank Kameny started the Washington chapter of the Mattachine gay rights organization
• 1967: Jack Nichols gives gay rights speech at Bucknell University, Pa., "Why I Joined the Movement" First gay male to appear in nationally televised interview on CBS to speak openly about homosexuality
• 1972: Published I Have More Fun With you Than Anybody, early memoir co-authored with Lige Clarke
• 1997 - 2004 : Edited GayToday.com, an online daily publication
• 2004: Published The Tomcat Chronicles: Erotic Adventures of a Gay Liberation Pioneer, billed as a gay version of Kerouac's On the Road
• 2005 May 2: Death of Jack Nichols in Cocoa Beach, Florida
• 2007: J. Louis Campbell III published Jack Nichols, Gay Pioneer: "Have You Heard My Message?" (Haworth)

From the guide to the James T. Sears Papers, 1918-2011 and undated, (bulk 1950-2004), (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)