Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz is an Assistant Professor and Head of Reference at the Graduate Center Library of the City University of New York. She is a Coordinator at the Lesbian Herstory Archives, Board member of CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies, and Advisory Board member to a GALE LGBTQ archival database. Shawn's focus is telling the stories of Black lesbian through oral histories, archiving, and the blurred lines of fiction. She presented her work on archiving Black lesbians as Keynote to theInternational LGBTQ ALMS (Archivists, Librarians, Museum Curators, & Special Libraries) Conference.
Shawn has a BS in Queer Women’s Studies from CUNY, an MFA in Creative Writing/Fiction, and an MLS with a focus on Archiving and Records Management, both from Queens College. Her current project is curating the narrative of the Salsa Soul Sisters, the first Black lesbian organization in the country, through a zine and traveling exhibit with the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, Lesbian Herstory Archives, and members of Salsa Soul. Learn more about Shawn here.
