Settlement work thrived in the early days of the 20th century, with nearly 500 Settlements providing service nationally at the movement’s peak. The history of large movements such as these can often overlook the details of the dedicated individuals who led them. In honor of Pride Month, The Gables is hosting a virtual panel featuring several of the more famous Settlement Houses – Hull House, Henry Street Settlement, and The House of the Seven Gables – in a discussion regarding the women who dedicated their lives to their Settlement and the role their sometimes closeted relationships held in strengthening their work.

Speakers on this panel include Nadia Maragha, Education Manager at Jane Addams Hull House Museum, Katie Vogel, Public Historian at Henry Street Settlement, Ashely Hopkins Benton, Senior Historians and Curator of Social History at The New York State Museum, Dakota Russell, Executive Director of The House of the Seven Gables, and James Giessler, Executive Director/ CEO of North Shore Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth.

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MEET THE PANELISTS!

Nadia Maragha holds a master’s degree in political science, with a focus in comparative urban politics and international human rights. She has more than ten years’ experience in informal education, mostly in museums. Her work and research at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum include developing educational content for exhibitions, writing about Hull-House’s history, leading public tours and programs, and presenting on subjects like the settlement’s work in public health, Chicago folklore, and Hull-House’s arts history.

Since 2017, Katie Vogel has had the rare opportunity to serve as the in-house Public Historian for a social services, health care, and arts agency: Henry Street Settlement, a historic organization on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In this role, she animates the Settlement’s permanent history exhibition, where the organization’s team members, community members, and visitors from across the United States and world learn about the Settlement’s role in local, national, and world history. Vogel organizes regular panel discussions related to Lower East Side history and, with the Close Friends Collective—a group of public historians—developed a series of queer history walking tours of the Lower East Side and East Village. Vogel received her master’s degree from Brown University’s Public Humanities program in the Department of American Studies. For five years, she worked at the Tenement Museum, leading tours about New York City immigration and migration history.

James Giessler has been working in the nonprofit sector for over 30 years. During this time, James has been an event planner and director of development for an HIV/AIDS organization, a development writer and director of corporate and foundation relations for a comprehensive university, executive director of a cancer support organization, president and chief development officer for an innovative start-up nonprofit working in the ALS sector, and before coming to NAGLY, the executive director of a Harvard University-adjacent foundation supporting the performing arts. He has been the Executive Director and CEO of NAGLY since April 2021.

As a gay man who grew up the son of evangelical fundamentalist parents in a rural part of northeastern Ohio, James has a personal understanding of how difficult it can be to live honestly, openly, and joyfully in a society that does not always value who we are and whom we love. But he maintains that, “While I know what it is like to have homophobic slurs hurled at me for simply walking down the street with my husband, I also know the value of finding a community of like-minded, supportive friends—both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ—to join us on life’s journey.”

Ashley Hopkins-Benton is a senior historian and curator of social history at the New York State Museum, where her research and collections work has focused on women’s history, LGBTQ+ history, immigration, and sculpture. She contributed the chapter “The Stonewall Uprising the Fight for Gay Rights, 1969” to the new publication Revolutionary New York : 250 Years of Social Change, edited by Bruce Dearstyne, and is co-author with Dr. Jennifer Lemak of Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial.

Dakota Russell Joined The Gables in 2022. Prior to his appointment, he served as executive director of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, an organization that works to preserve the historic structures and artifacts on the site in northwest Wyoming where over 14,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. During his tenure, Heart Mountain became a national leader in educating the public about the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans and the importance of preserving liberty and civil rights for all Americans.

Prior to joining the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, Russell worked for many years with Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites, managing interpretive operations at the Nathan Boone Homestead, Osage Village, Harry S. Truman Birthplace, and Battle of Carthage State Historic Sites. He served as an integral member of the research and development team that created the Nathan Boone Homestead State Historic Site, including the restoration of the 1837 log home and rehabilitation of two historic cemeteries. As part of this project, he initiated the first comprehensive history of African American enslavement at the site, which informed interpretation and became a model for incorporating more diverse narratives statewide.