Visiting faculty Channing Joseph researches Black and LGBTQ+ history in Washington, D.C., contributing to new historical marker placement

Amid the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to censor both Black and LGBTQ+ history, Bard College Berlin visiting faculty member Channing Joseph celebrates historical victories through investigative reporting and archival research.

Joseph is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and creative nonfiction author, as well as a recognized global authority on African American LGBTQ+ history and culture. His groundbreaking research on Black queer history has been featured by the National Archives and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.

Joseph’s archival research on William Dorsey Swann—a formerly enslaved person who hosted secret drag balls in the 1880s and became the nation’s first known LGBTQ+ activist—played an essential role in uncovering Swann’s story and the lost history of queer D.C., leading to the placement of a new historical marker in the city.

The marker follows the passage of a landmark law re-dedicating Swann Street, previously named for slaveholder Thomas Swann, to honor William Dorsey Swann.

This semester, Joseph is bringing his expertise to Bard College Berlin to teach the course Longform Journalism: Crafting Investigative and Narrative Stories. The course combines media analysis with hands-on reporting, allowing students to develop their own longform projects by conducting field reporting, interviews, and archival research.

Post Date: 10-21-2025