Today we cover an amazing individual who’s all but been erased from history, Dr. Alan Hart. While he achieved much academic success starting at a young age, Alan would struggle with his career for decades. This was due to his transition from female to male in the early 1900s. As Alan fought against extreme prejudice and discrimination, he still managed to become a national expert on the deadly disease of tuberculosis. Sadly, the information about Hart is limited. But never fear, we have been able to piece together an amazing story. So hit the play button and head back in time to a century past. Today we discuss the incredible life of doctor Alan L. Hart. Who is vastly responsible for the sharp decline in tuberculosis in our country. Born in the country on October 4, 1890, Alan was assigned female at birth and given the name Lucille. We want to pause and state that we normally do not dead-name our transgender icons. – Dead naming is the act of calling a transgender person by their given name and not their chosen name. – Because we take it upon ourselves to accurately preserve our hero’s legacy. However, in the case of Dr. Hart, you will find it is difficult to find research that does not include his deadname. And in fact, many people have chosen to ignore his transition altogether. A point we will address later in the episode. But for now, we return to Alan Hart’s story. At the age of 2, Alan Hart’s father would die of typhoid fever and Edna Hart would relocate the family to Linn County, Oregon. There Alan says he found happiness as he was allowed to wear boys clothes and live in a masculine fashion. He preferred hunting and football to any girlish activities and insisted from a young age that he was a boy. He carried a pocket-knife with him at all times and begged his mother to cut his hair. This was one request she never granted. Though Alan was allowed to spend his free time with the boys, helping out with farm chores. Rather than being cooped up inside doing domestic work. While this would have been generally frowned up, most people in Linn County became used to the Hart child’s unusual preferences. In high school, Alan began to struggle socially. He was an awkward teen, especially considering he had to wear dresses to school which he did not like. He also found that he had no romantic interest in boys and this further isolated him. Instead, he dove into his studies and preferred the comforts of a good book to palling around with kids in town. His one solace in school was the teacher’s allowance that he use a pseudonym for his essays. This was actually a common practice at the time. And Alan chose the name Robert Allen Bamford (Bamford being his mother’s maiden name). The young man was quite an accomplished writer, even as a teen and his work would be published in local newspapers and publications, all under his male pseudonym. The hard work and studying paid off and Alan graduated high school in 1908 at the top of his class. He headed off to Albany College (Now named Lewis and Clark College) where he studied science and joined the debate club. There he met Eva Cushman and, to our knowledge, entered his first romantic relationship. The two lovebirds suddenly transferred to Stanford University in 1911 and Alan helped to form Stanford’s first female debate team. San Francisco also offered the chance for the closeted transgender man to further explored his sexuality and identity. Most of this exploring was done in the Tenderloin district. The infamous area derived its name from a similar location in New York. Supposedly a police chief – transferred to a low-income, crime-ridden area – became so rich off of the bribes he took to ignore crimes that he could afford to eat tenderloin rather than chuck roast. Similar locations around the U.S. would adopt the nickname, but San Francisco is by far the most notorious.