Before Gender didn’t include a photo of Carl Goodwin Crawford’s most important contribution to trans history: his court-ordered change of legal sex in 1902. I was thrilled to find not only court records but also testimonies submitted by his community to affirm his gender.
From the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Grundy County Court minute books, v. K-L 1901-1907, pages 149-50:
In the matter of the petition of Carl Crawford for the change of name and to disclose sex, etc. This cause came on to be heard on this, Sept. 27, 1902, before the worshipful R. Smart, chairman pro tem. of the county court of Grundy County, Tennessee, same being a special or adjourned term of this court, upon the petition of Carl Crawford, filed in this cause, proof, etc. And it duly appearing to the court from the petition filed and sworn by the complainant, Carl Crawford, in this cause, and also from the sworn statement of Mrs. E. L. Tipton, the mother of said Carl Crawford, also filed as an exhibit to said petition, and also the sworn statement of Dr. W. E. Barnes, the family physician, also made and filed, and the further petition of Carl G. Crawford, alias Carl Crawford, also sworn to and filed, that a very grave error and injustice had been made and committed against the petitioner, Carl Crawford, in the disclosure of the sex of the said Carl Crawford at the time of his birth, he being a male child and his mother and friends mistaking said Carl for a fe- male child and thus unintentionally depriving the said petitioner, Carl Crawford, of the legitimate rights of an American citizen. And it further appeared from the proof that said Carl Crawford from his childhood has been and appeared masculine in all his deportment and manners and when arriving at the age to disclose his true sex, has been rendered very unhappy since by the condition in which he has been accidentally placed by his mother and friends. From all of which it duly appears to the court from the proof which is positive and unquestionable that petitioner, Carl Crawford, is justly entitled to the redress sought. It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the sex of petitioner, Carl Crawford, be and is hereby declared to be masculine; that the name of said petitioner be and the same is hereby changed from that of [deadname] to Carl G. Crawford: and that petitioner be and is hereby clothed with all the rights and privileges of a male person and a male American citizen; and in the future be recognized and known as Carl G. Crawford, and that all the rights and privileges guaranteed by law are hereby granted to the said Carl G. Crawford as an American male citizen and that said petitioner be and is hereby vested with such relief. And petitioner will pay the cost of this proceeding, for which execution may issue.
I did not have room to include this entire 1902 article in Before Gender, but it is worth the read as the keystone of Carl’s story. In it, Carl begs readers to “give weight to the mental, moral and spiritual man as well as the physical.” View it in full quality here.
This article also reveals that Carl refused to let his doctor inspect him, which is a strong indicator that he was not intersex (along with his personal description). Although we cannot know his intersex status with absolute certainty when considering the rudimentary state of gender medicine in 1902, this fact provides a clear sign. I highlight this important aspect of his story due to intersex trans people being seen as more “legitimate” legal subjects.
The Waco Times-Herald, Aug 19, 1902, page 6.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jul 10, 1904, page 27.
