A student-led project is bringing attention to an untold story in Mercer University history. Spearheaded by seniors Bekehm Mohn and Savannah French, a book is in the works that details the LGBTQ+ experience at Mercer and defining moments from the University’s past and hopes for the future.
“Hidden Threads: Intellect, Diversity and Religious Freedom” is expected to be completed in October and will be available in digital and physical format through Mercer University Libraries.
The idea for the self-published book stemmed from a project on the anniversary of integration at Mercer that Mohn and French were involved in for their applied social justice class in spring 2023. Everyone in the course conducted research on a different topic related to integration and developed materials for an exhibit displayed in Plunkett Gallery in Hardman Hall in fall 2023.
That research into Mercer’s past inspired Mohn to take on a new project shining light on the University’s LGBTQ+ history. Since coming to Mercer, Mohn has advocated for inclusivity as well as education on LGBTQ+ culture. That included developing the “My Name Matters” campaign and advocating with faculty and students to implement the University’s preferred name policy in fall 2022.
In collaboration with Mercer’s official LGBTQ+ and ally organization Common Ground, Mohn gauged student and alumni interest in the history project and recruited a team to help with the extensive research. In addition to Mohn and French, student researchers include Raven Dupree, Alyson Tidwell and Grey Morrison.
Prior to “Hidden Threads,” Mercer archives had limited materials on the University’s LGBTQ+ history, said Daniel Williams, who provided research assistance on the project as head of archives, special collections and digital initiatives at Tarver Library. The University’s archive collections rely heavily on public contributions, and the only information on file on this subject area was related to the Mercer Triangle Symposium student group and the University’s 2006 split from the Georgia Baptist Convention.
“(The book) tells a story that had very obviously not been told, so that’s going to be a big plus,” Williams said. “When you’re getting questions from researchers and you can’t answer them, it’s very frustrating, and now we can.”
Mercer Triangle Symposium, the University’s first LGBTQ+ student organization and predecessor to Common Ground, was founded in 2002 and hosted a celebration event on the Macon campus on Oct. 11, 2005, for National Coming Out Day. Word of the club and the event reached the Georgia Baptist Convention, which did not approve.
“The club went on to advocate for itself,” said Mohn, a psychology major. “Students were asking for the club while Maconites were weary of it. GBC was voting to sever ties with Mercer for multiple reasons. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The Georgia Baptist Convention held its preliminary vote to cut ties with Mercer on Nov. 16 that year. Two days later, students, faculty and administration gathered together on Jesse Mercer Plaza for the “We Are Mercer Rally” in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
“This was the first time we’d had at Mercer a rally at this level,” Mohn said. “It had a momentous impact on the community at the time.”
The Georgia Baptist Convention solidified its decision to split from Mercer with a second vote the following year.
As part of their research, Mohn and French hosted four events in April in Willingham Chapel, where they showed the “We Are Mercer” rally footage followed by discussion. Dr. Beth Sherouse, a 2006 Mercer graduate and founding member of the Mercer Triangle Symposium, was a guest speaker for one of the programs.
“It’s been interesting to see people from different generations come together and talk about that footage,” said French, who is double-majoring in psychology and women’s and gender studies. “We had current faculty, alumni who were there during the 2005 rally, and current students who didn’t know about the event.”
The “We are Mercer” rally is the climax of the “Hidden Threads” book. The student researchers located and interviewed more than 50 people for the book, including Mercerians involved in the 2005 rally; former and current faculty and students; and influential community figures. From those interviews, the team was able to uncover a deep history, Mohn said.
Williams, a 2007 Mercer graduate, was able to help connect the team with some of the interviewees.
“They started with the materials we had on the GBC split and tracked names down, and that’s been an impressive part to watch,” Williams said. “It’s been neat to watch students interact with history like that and get really enthusiastic. We always like it when students get involved and come back.”
Through the book, the research team has developed a timeline of events going back nearly 75 years that documents the LGBTQ+ experience of Mercer faculty, staff, students and alumni.
“The book goes as far back as the 1950s, and we talk about how the conflict with GBC developed from that period to 2005,” French said. “There were a lot of other reasons for the severance. We cover how those types of issues built up and also talk about some of the other issues in Macon.”
The team also worked with the Historic Macon Foundation, Navigating Omitted Minds Overtime and Macon activist Demarcus Beckham to obtain supplemental information related to LGBTQ+ history and experiences for people of color, since archival materials were lacking in this representation, Mohn said. These sources provided insight into this representation as well as recent developments in Macon inclusivity.
“We’ve been compiling all this history and context into a book to be accessible for free in the archives and digitally, and we hope to update it as it comes out,” Mohn said. “We just want the community at Mercer and allies to have access to this history and know what’s happened and what they can do to better understand the community at Mercer.”
This summer, Mohn and French were awarded $1,000 from Mercer’s Visionary Student Panel minigrant program for their project. They are using those funds to purchase design software, cover printing costs for the book, and host additional viewing parties of the “We Are Mercer” rally footage. They want to show the footage regularly to help the community reflect on the past and present, Mohn said.
The goal is for the book to launch on Oct. 11 in celebration of National Coming Out Day. Mohn said the book will continually be updated as more information is uncovered. The hope is that reading this history will inspire other Mercerians to come forward with their stories.
“I would love for more queer people on campus to know that this history exists and continue that progress instead of restarting,” French said.
Archives are an integral part of the community. Libraries want and need this history, but they need people’s help to get the information, Mohn said.
“I’m not giving (the project) up until there’s nothing left, even after I graduate,” Mohn said. “My huge goal, other than giving credit to those in our community who did so much, is to make sure this cycle of forgetting our history doesn’t happen again. We have the history. We have the progress. We just need to remember it, so we have a precedent. We need to hold onto our history and support the archive system.”
