Acronym for Auto Immune Deficiency Disorder. Are you Black first? She returned to the city in 1992 after the death of Johnson. What was STAR, and why was it so important? They're really insulting to women. I'm not too friendly with them. The store owners called her riffraff and threw her out. For me, I found joy in having a chance to connect with the people closest to me in new ways, in deeper ways, reminding myself to take a walk not only for exercise but for the fresh air. In 2020, New York State named a waterfront park in Brooklyn after Marsha. Engraving. no. And I didn't get downtown till about 2:00. Are we seeing a little bit of that now? ' In 2001, she was marching in New York City Pride Parades and living in Transy House. When we're talking to white people about white supremacy, we could say, "Read how to be an antiracist," right? She remains one of the most recognized and admired LGBTQ+ advocates. Sylvia Rivera. National Womens History Museum. What does this make you think and feel? She was the fifth of seven children born to Malcolm Michaels Sr. and Alberta Claiborne. If I can't even get the people closest to me to understand what's going on, how am I gonna get the masses to get it?" Black trans women continue to face disproportionate levels of violence. Cihak and Zima (photographer), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, ca. Describe Marshas and Sylvias friendship. But in this moment, in the fight for trans equality, is it more important to grow allies in the Black community or allies with other women? And that's just not okay. They fixed up the building and paid rent for nearly eight months. WebMarsha P. Johnson: The way I winded up being at Stonewall that night, I was having a party uptown. I don't trust men that much anymore., On the Fight for Freedom: No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us., On Her Reputation: I know people think Im a stupid little street queen out there begging for change cause theres nothing else she knows how to do., On Gender Roles: I'm very comfortable around straight men. I found a little bit of joy having this complex, smart conversation with you. The Gay Activist Alliance (GAA), which formed in response to Stonewall, frequently rejected the role transgender peoplethe majority of whom were people of colorhad played in the uprising. AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP; ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE, Major support for Women & the American Story provided by, Lead support for New-York Historicals teacher programs provided by, In 1975, artist Andy Warhol crossed paths with Marsha and photographed her for his. It was not easy to live on the margins. "Don't you got money to make?". Like, it's hard to know in the moment. Marsha P. Johnson | National Women's History Museum Shes said that the town had zero tolerance for LGBTQ people and as a Marsha P. Johnson was born on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But I don't know if we'll even completely know we're in a revolution probably until maybe it's almost over, right? Lee: That was Raquel Willis, a Black trans activist and director of communications for the Ms. Foundation. Throughout her life, she fought against the exclusion of transgender people, especially transgender people of color, from the larger movement for gay rights. She slept in hotel rooms, restaurants, and movie theaters. To honor Johnsons life, public art will be included and interpretive park signage throughout the park will share her story. But how are you finding joy in this moment? Looking for more quotes? She never let her personal setbacks stop her advocacy. When a Warhol screen-print of Marsha went on display in a Greenwich Village store, Marsha took some friends to see it. So people like Marsha P. Johnson, Zazu Nova, a Black trans elder who's still with us named Miss Major were present there and were actively invested in the fight that sprang out of that moment. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper were sidelined as Black women. This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project. Marsha P. Johnson. National Womens History Museum. Johnson, an African American self-identified drag queen and activist, was also battling exclusion in a Johnson adored wearing colorful, fun outfits that she made from finds at thrift stores and discarded items; she was also often seen wearing a crown of flowers. She also reconciled with the gay rights movement that was now expanding to embrace the LGBTQ+ community. Johnson grew up in a religious family and began attending Mount Teman African Methodist Episcopal Church as a child; she remained a practicing Christian for the rest of her life. Compare the lives of Marsha P. Johnson and, Connect Marshas life story to other LGBTQ individuals within, One of Marshas proudest moments was with Andy Warhol. A progressive social reformer and activist, Jane Addams was on the frontline of the settlement house movement and was the first American woman to wina Nobel Peace Prize. IE 11 is not supported. Yet this was not the first time Rivera was directly involved in activism. But the impact of STAR had already been felt by many. As the fifth of seven children of a General Motors assembly line worker and a housekeeper, Johnson was about five years old when she began wearing dresses, but was often harassed by other children. Is it education? MARSHA P. JOHNSON "You Gotta Have Soul !" - YouTube Lee: You know, I don't want to either/or it or make it too reductive or too simple. Date accessed. Now they are getting a statue in New York, Brooklyns East River State Park renamed in honor of late LGBTQ activist and trans icon Marsha P. Johnson. After this experience, Rivera left New York City and activism behind for a bit. And I think that we do a disservice by allowing folks who lead Black liberation movements to envision liberation as contingent on one identity or one experience. ", On Mental Health: I may be crazy, but that don't make me wrong., On Distrust: I got robbed once. It was about the oppression and fear they felt every single day. You know, we need the community organizers, and activists, and all those types of stories as well, and we don't often get that. Unidentified African American woman in uniform, 1861. (CHEERING). In 1970, Johnson and Rivera founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organization dedicated to sheltering young transgender individuals who were shunned by their families. The two also began STAR House, a place where transgender youth could stay and feel safe. Rights for LGBTQ+ people were limited and sometimes ignored completely. And so for me it's been very important to always be a Black trans woman when I come into spaces. However, young Marsha enjoyed wearing clothing made for girls. The first STAR House was in the back of an abandoned truck in Greenwich Village. Religious Experience and Journal of Mrs. Jarena Lee: giving an account of her call to preach the gospel, frontispiece. She wanted to protect young transpeople living on the street by giving them a home. Gertrude Kasebier, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. And that is also violence. Wilchins, Riki, A Woman for Her Time,The Village Voice, February 26, 2002,https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/02/26/a-woman-for-her-time/. Willis: I think class affects all of it. Marsha P By following year, the first gay pride parades took place, and Johnson and Rivera founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) to house, feed and clothe young transgender people. And that's part of why I have an issue with the way that we have framed violence as simply something that happens from the state, something that happens from police officers who are white that overwhelmingly happens to cisgender heterosexual men. And the idea of womanhood, is it worth having to explain to people what it means to live in this identity? She began performing with the drag group, Hot Peaches. She attracted the attention of many, including the pop artist Andy Warhol who included her in a series of prints in 1975 entitled Ladies and Gentlemen. In an interview Johnson did for a 1972 book, she said her ambition was to see gay people liberated and free and to have equal rights that other people have in America. She wanted to see her gay brothers and sisters out of jail and on the streets again. In another interview, she said as long as gay people dont have their rights all across Americathere is no reason for celebration. In 1980, she was invited to ride in the lead car of the Gay Pride Parade in New York City. They thought it was more likely that Marsha was a victim of an attack. Smithsonian Institute Archives Image # SIA 2010-1509. How can food be used as a form of cultural memory & resistance? Marsha P Johnson, born 24 August, 1945, holds a special place within the LGBTQ+ community for her larger-than-life spirit and trans rights activism. Mostly white cisgender gay men, but also cisgender lesbians as well. And from those earliest days, people had concerns about Black folks, brown folks, people who are incarcerated, and of course trans people because we were seen as not in line with some of the assimilationist goals of many of those early movement figures. She took on the name "Black Marsha," and eventually added on her famous middle initial and took her last name from a Howard Johnson restaurant she frequented. As one of few women and Asian musicians in the jazz world, Akiyoshi infused Japanese culture, sounds, and instruments into her music. When a Warhol screen-print of Marsha went on display in a Greenwich Village store, Marsha took some friends to see it. Thats what made me in New York, thats what made me in New Jersey, thats what made me in the world., On Changing History: History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It feels like a different time. As the gay liberation movement became increasingly white, middle class, and cisgender, STAR reminded everyone that transgender and gender non-conforming people deserved equal rights too. Marsha P. Johnson: The way I winded up being at Stonewall that night, I was having a party uptown. Abigail Adams was an early advocate for women's rights. So if we're gonna say we're getting rid of prisons, we're defunding the police, which I support, we have to be just as much or maybe more invested in building up the consciousness of our people to be able to actually hold those people who commit harm and abuse accountable in the ways that we need them to be held accountable. LIVE! Lee: Black trans women in particular have been an important of the gay rights movement since the Stonewall uprising in 1969 in New York City. You know, I thought that we were at a point where we were past a lot of his misgivings or misconceptions about transness. Always sporting a smile, Johnson was an Sylvia Rivera, National Park Service,https://www.nps.gov/people/sylvia-rivera.htm. They were not only angered by the police raid but also the oppression and fear they experienced every day. Pay It No Mind: Marsha P. Johnson | Alexander Street, part of I would love for there to be a massive mobilization of allies of Black folks. There are plenty of cis women who don't check off a lot of criterias that are considered womanhood. Rivera also fought against the exclusion of transgender people from the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in New York. Willis: No. Special thanks to Eric Marcus, founder and host of the podcast Making Gay History, for the use of his 1989 interview with Marsha P. Johnson. Not long after, her body was pulled from the Hudson River near the West Village. TRANSCRIPT New-York Historical Society. Silvia Rivera died of liver cancer in St. Vincents Manhattan Hospital in 2002 at the age of 50. NASA on The Commons, via flickr, Home / Growth and Turmoil, 1948-1977 / Growing Tensions / Life Story: Marsha P. Johnson. MLA Rothberg, Emma. When the organizers of the gay pride parade tried to ban STAR, they showed up anyway. Lee: By the time Marsha died in 1992, people rarely talked about her role in the movement. And so I don't want to leave places, you know, coming in as the first Black trans woman to do X, Y, and Z and then have not built any pathways for more Black trans people to come into the space, to carry the banner when I leave and inevitably go do other work. I was involved with that.. Marshas life dramatically changed when she found herself near the Stonewall Inn in the early hours of June 28, 1969. 1893-1894. As we celebrate Earth Day this year, may we reflect on the wise words of environmentalists, climate activists, faith leaders, lovers of nature, and the youth of the world. The first Gay Pride Parade took place in 1970 and a series of gay rights groupsincluding the Gay Liberation Front, a more radical organization, and the Gay Activist Alliance, a more moderate and focused spin-off groupemerged. Marsha P. Johnson. National Womens History Museum. Rivera said in an interview in 2001 that while she did not throw the first Molotov cocktail at the police (a long-enduring myth), she did throw the second. Lets take a journey through a deeply inspiring and The P stood for Pay It No Mind. To her, this was a life motto and a response to questions about her gender. Willis: Of course. Jen Carlson, Activists Install Marsha P. Johnson Monument in Christopher Park, Gothamist, August 25, 2021. reinc: The story of a company founded by four US Womens National Team soccer players seeking to challenge norms and inspire lasting progress. She was given a place of honor in the 25th Anniversary Stonewall Inn march in 1994. We'll be back next week. Lee: On one hand, I get tired of the trope that the Black community is somehow more homophobic or more transphobic. And so when I think about womanhood, we have to be expansive with all of these gender categories. I mean, I think about the early feminist movement and how people like Sojourner Truth, Ida B. 2022. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson. They were pushed out of the fight for suffrage in this country. Oh, there was a lot of little chants we used to do in those days. . Marsha enjoyed expressing herself through her appearance. Screen excerpts from this film so that students can hear directly from Marsha and the people in her life. Throughout the 1970s, Johnson became a more visible and prominent member of the gay rights movement. In 2012, the New York Police Department reopened the case into Johnsons death. There's this idea that because we are openly gender nonconforming or having an openly different gender experience that we deserve the abuse that we may receive, and that's just not okay. 'Cause when I got downtown, the place was already on fire and it was a raid already. How have Indigenous people exercised sovereignty and self-determination in the modern world? Turns out we're not there. For six nights, the 17-year-old Rivera refused to go home or to sleep, saying Im not missing a minute of thisit's the revolution!, Rivera resisted arrest and subsequently led a series of protests against the raid. Transcript: Into Black Trans Liberation - MSNBC.com For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. However, Johnson also found a community in the city, especially after meeting Latina drag queen Sylvia Rivera. And then our families, right? I just recently had a really hard conversation with my brother. Johnsons life changed when she found herself engaging with the resistance at The Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. The group became a space to organize and discuss issues facing the transgender community in New York City and they also had a building, STAR House, that provided lodgings for those who needed it. #RFK Presidential Announcement w/ Shannon Joy. and AIDS, and gay and transgender rights. We know that homophobia and transphobia knows no bounds.
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