Marcia Hams and Susan Shephard
Darien, Andrew Andrew Darien Shephard, Susan Hams, Marcia
Darien, Andrew
Andrew Darien
Shephard, Susan
Hams, Marcia
Title
Marcia Hams and Susan Shephard
Date
2024-02-19
Subject
Oral History
LGBTQ+
Lynn
LGBTQ+
Lynn
Material type
Collections
Abstract
Residents of Lynn from 1978 to 1990, Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd became in May 2004 the first same-sex couple in the United States to apply for and receive a marriage license. Marcia, born in 1947 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was raised in a middle-class family where she was the eldest of three children. She would graduate from Scottsdale High School, Pomona College, and receive her MA from Boston University. Born in 1952, Susan Shepherd was raised by her mother in a Polish enclave in South Boston while living with her grandmother and uncle. They are graduates of St. Joseph Academy, Northeastern, and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. They met while working at the General Electric Plant in Lynn, where they led unionization efforts for workers’ rights and removing discrimination against female employees. They each speak fondly of their time in Lynn, a place of remarkable tolerance and diversity, where they raised their son Peter and became accepted community members. Their joint interview from January 2024 discusses their individual life trajectories, feminism, labor unions, activism, marriage equality, and LGBTQ+ parenting.