Oral history interview with Sally H. Cohn

Collection

Identifier: SR 11237

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Sally H. Cohn was conducted by Jade Davis and Erin Babcock Musick at Cohn’s home in Portland, Oregon, on February 8, 2011. Davis and Musick conducted the interview for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest as part of Professor Pat Young's senior capstone class on LGBTQ history at Portland State University.

In this interview, Cohn talks about teaching herself to hand whistle. She discusses her preference for short hair and talks about lesbian stereotypes. She talks about her involvement in gay and lesbian rights organizations, including the Lesbian Community Project and Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. She also shares the experience of coming out to her family in the 1970s. She talks about her volunteer work; about the fight against Measure 9, an initiative against LGBTQ rights, in 1992; and about her work for an alcohol and drug treatment center in Portland, which is now known as the Avel Gordly Healing Center. She closes the interview by talking about writing her book, “A Handwhistler: Memories of Creativity and Activism,” and speaking about her 2010 appearance as a handwhistler on “America’s Got Talent.”

Dates

2011 February 8

Creator

Cohn, Sally H. (Sally Helen), 1934- (Interviewee, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Sally Helen Cohn was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1934. She grew up in Heppner, in eastern Oregon. In 1956, she graduated from the University of Oregon. She then lived on the East Coast for over a decade before returning to Portland in 1972. She worked in a substance abuse clinic in Portland, now known as the Avel Gordly Center for Healing, until her retirement in 1998. She was a gay rights activist, a singer, and musician. She wrote “A Handwhistler: Memories of Creativity and Activism,” which was published in 2007. In 2010, she appeared on “America’s Got Talent” as a handwhistler.

Extent

41.5 Megabytes (1 audio file (MP3, 1 hr., 30 min., 41 sec.) + transcript (51 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Sally H. Cohn conducted by Jade Davis and Erin Babcock Musick on February 8, 2011, for the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. Cohn was a gay rights activist, author, and handwhistler in Portland, Oregon.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Audio and transcript available online in OHS Digital Collections.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, July 2011 (Lib. Acc. 27383).

Related Materials

An interview with Sally Cohn conducted in 1977 is held by the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, and is available online at https://www.ojmche.org/oral-history-people/sally-cohn/