Speaking of white women, (LAUGH) and as we know that white women played a role in white supremacy and have always played a reinforcing role in that and also a role in the patriarchy, right? Life Story: Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992), Women & the American Story, New-York Historical Society. Almost 30 years on from her death, Johnson is getting the attention she was denied when she was alive, with tales of Johnson was outspoken about the risks of tackling the Mob; her roommate at the time had been lobbying to have officials with alleged Mafia ties removed from the And that's something other LGBTQ+ folks, particularly white ones, need to understand. Hey, Luke. The Stonewall uprising was an awakening for an entire generation of LGBTQ activists. I think about just two days after George was murdered, Tony McDade was murdered in Tallahassee, Florida, a Black transgender man. Like, it's hard to know in the moment. The riots had already started, and they said the police went in there and set the place on fire. Willis: I think it's all of the above. I feel like what fuels a lot of the violence that may happen from Black men towards Black women comes from an innate feeling of not being man enough for whatever reason. You know, I think about how more work needs to be done at our colleges and universities, in our Greek organizations, in our professional organizations, in the Congressional Black Caucus. She said in a 1989 interview that, Before gay rights, before the Stonewall, I was involved in the Black Liberation movement, the peace movementI felt I had the time and I knew that I had to do something. As he entered activism, community organizing, and politics, Milk became known as a champion of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, minorities, immigrants, women, and children. WebMarsha P. Johnson: The way I winded up being at Stonewall that night, I was having a party uptown. She brought some serious thoughts to this gay audience. Show more Show more Marsha was part of a growing community of LGBTQ youth who sought acceptance in New York City. And when that doesn't happen, I mean, you're being dehumanized on two levels. It was not easy to live on the margins. How have Indigenous people exercised sovereignty and self-determination in the modern world? Currently, LGTBQ+ monuments are not among the Citys public statues. Despite her popularity, Marsha also lived a life of poverty and danger. She asked Marsha to help her create a place where they could feel safe, unite, and fight for their rights. She also encouraged Sylvia to love herself and her identity. Even without lodgings, STAR provided a safe haven for people who had never had a place to call home. 1750. LIVE! We kept the building going. Emma Rothberg, Sylvia Rivera, National Womens History Museum, 2021. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/Sylvia-Rivera. [4]The transgender women at Stonewall were pushed out of the gay rights movement. How have Indigenous people exercised sovereignty and self-determination in the modern world? After her high school graduation, she moved across the Hudson River to New York City in 1963 with only a bag of clothes and $15. And they never forget it. Lee: I want to ask you though. As they watched their kids jump from a moving truck, Marsha and Sylvia realized they needed a real home. Please try again. Willis: I definitely think that names like Marsha P. Johnson were forgotten intentionally. 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. Not long after, her body was pulled from the Hudson River near the West Village. Content Warning: This resource addresses physical and sexual violence. Looking for more quotes? In 1973, Rivera participated in the Gay Pride Parade but was not allowed to speak, despite the amount of work and advocacy she had done. We have been fighting to be respected, fighting to live for centuries. 'Cause it's like you're only cherished if you're dead, or you're only cherished if you can be in the spotlight and in some ways serve this desire of a cis person for you to be a spectacle, right, so they can add another layer of distance to you. Note: Marshas life story includes a large amount of vocabulary that may be unfamiliar to teachers and students. So it is hurtful, but I don't have the luxury of giving up. Date accessed. Marsha had a reputation for being generous and kind. Encourage them to search for articles about the Marsha and Sylvia statue in New York City, Marsha P. Johnson state park in Brooklyn, and more. I think about our media outlets and how often we don't have spaces like this, Trymaine, where a Black trans woman can come on and be in dialogue with a Black cis man about the state of the world. The full episode transcript for Into Black Trans Liberation. 1989-1990. Shes said that the town had zero tolerance for LGBTQ people and as a That is just another element of patriarchy. As one of few women and Asian musicians in the jazz world, Akiyoshi infused Japanese culture, sounds, and instruments into her music. But the fight for protection and inclusion back then is so similar to the fight we are seeing today. Her activism led her to become one of the most influential figures in the gay liberation movement. 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. Rivera later said of Johnson, she was like a mother to me. As Johnson had done for herself, she encouraged Rivera to love herself and her identity. A lot of times Ive reached my hand out to people in the gay community that just didnt have nobody to help them when they were down and out., On Her Own Legacy: They call me a legend in my own time, because there were so many queens gone that Im one of the few queens left from the 70s and the 80s., .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Afeni Shakur. Marsha P. Johnson was one of the most prominent figures of the gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s in New York City. (LAUGH) But is her name and folks who came after her and worked alongside her, are those names forgotten, overlooked by accident, by intent? The City intends to have the monuments installed by 2021, as part of a plan to address gender gaps in public art. Well never share your email with anyone else. The story of a leader in social, environmental, and political activism and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was assigned male at birth. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. On multiple occasions, clients pulled guns on Marsha. If you walked down Christopher Street, Marsha would receive you in the manner of a gracious host. Diana Davies/Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, By Alexandra Burgos for NPS Cultural Landscapes Program, [1] Marsha P. Johnson, a black transgender woman, was a central figure in the gay liberation movement I mean, I think about the early feminist movement and how people like Sojourner Truth, Ida B. series. The LGBTQ community was furious the police did not investigate her death. How Nan Goldin Waged War Against Big Pharma, How the Greensboro Four Began the Sit-In Movement, Biography: You Need to Know: Bayard Rustin, Biography: You Need to Know: Sylvia Rivera, Biography: You Need to Know: Dorothy Pittman Hughes. WebIn December 1970, Liza Cowan of WBAI sat down with membersation a the newly formed Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (or S Honey, I promise you, I'm not. Initially ruled a suicide, many friends questioned that conclusion and suspected foul play. Describe Marshas and Sylvias friendship. Is there a confluence there? Lee: Police then reclassified the case as a drowning from undetermined cause, but the LGBTQ+ community was furious that the police refused to investigate further and that many press outlets did not cover her death. Lee: Raquel, thank you so much for your time. Once in New York, Johnson returned to dressing in clothing made for women and adopted the full name Marsha P. Johnson; the P stood for Pay It No Mind, a phrase that became her motto. Marsha taught Sylvia how to apply makeup, live on the street, and look out for trouble. She remains one of the most recognized and admired LGBTQ+ advocates. The store owners called her riffraff and threw her out. Together, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera continue to inspire the fight for justice that has not been won. In 1970, Sylvia came to Marsha with an idea. You know? Is it a dropping of ego? About, Sylvia Rivera Law Project,https://srlp.org/about/. Like, does one feed the other, especially when it comes to Black trans lives? I think its about time the gay brothers and sisters got their rights . She wanted to protect young transpeople living on the street by giving them a home. A person who does not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. After graduating high school, Marsha moved to New York City with only $15 and a bag of clothes. Oops! Marsha was neither the first nor the last trans woman of color to be a victim of violence. That interview originally appeared on his show, Making Gay History. Johnsons life changed when she found herself engaging with the resistance at The Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. Johnson also became an AIDS activist, later revealing in a 1992 interview that she had been HIV-positive for two years. So thank you very much for your time. Jen Carlson, Activists Install Marsha P. Johnson Monument in Christopher Park, Gothamist, August 25, 2021, https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/marsha-p-johnson-statue-bust-christopher-park, The Marsha P. Johnson Institute, https://marshap.org/, By Emma Rothberg, Ph.D. | Associate Educator, Digital Learning and Innovation. She slept in hotel rooms, restaurants, and movie theaters. Willis: Well, you know what is interesting is we've gotta get out of this space of thinking that transgender people are having some kind of magically different gender experience. Throughout her life, she fought against the exclusion of transgender people, especially transgender people of color, from the larger movement for gay 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. Why do you think they were so close? In another, she climbed a lamppost and dropped a heavy purse onto a police car, shattering the windshield. 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. Good news is coming your way! Yet this was not the first time Rivera was directly involved in activism. A term to describe people who wear clothes designed for the opposite sex. June 7, 1999. MLA Rothberg, Emma. Devaney, Susan, Who Was Sylvia Rivera? Marsha P. Johnson: The way I winded up being at Stonewall that night, I was having a party uptown. Were all in this rat race together! Marsha P. Johnson, I may be crazy, but that dont make me wrong. Marsha P. Johnson, I dont think you should be ashamed of anybody you know that has AIDS. I will say this was a joy. All they think about is getting up your dress, anything to get up that dress of yours. . You may wish to start with a screening of. We have an issue particularly in media where we often get to be either victims, of course, and not alive, or we're a superstar or celebrity. In 2019, New York City announced that Marsha P. Johnson, along with Rivera, would be the subject of a monument commissioned by the Public Arts Campaign She Built NYC. The monument will be the first in NYC to honor transgender women. As the officers began to arrest people for violating various discriminatory laws, the patrons of the Stonewall fought back. At Marshas funeral, hundreds of people showed up. We lose a lot of nuance there. As one of few women and Asian musicians in the jazz world, Akiyoshi infused Japanese culture, sounds, and instruments into her music. 1890. Crowd: Black trans lives matter. The Rudy Grillo Collection, Rudy Grillo / LGBT Community Center Archive. She actively spoke out about the transphobia in the early gay rights movement. And it also of course extends to folks who are nonbinary or gender nonconforming who straddle all of these struggles. The movement did not appreciate the extent to which transgender youth needed help and support. And the circumstances around his case admittedly are very murky. We paid the rent. Although only 19, Rivera became a mother to many of the residents of STAR House. But I'll be honest. A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, Sylvia Rivera was a tireless advocate for those silenced and disregarded by larger movements. Here are 14 quotes from Johnson that capture her spirit and endless passion for LGBTQ+ rights: On Coming of Age: I was no one, nobody, from Nowheresville until I became a drag queen. 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. It will be the citysand according to New York City, the worldsfirst monument dedicated to transgender individuals. We can educate you, learn the history. Sylvia and Marsha hustled every night to make sure their new family had breakfast each morning. Cooking for myself, right? And I didn't get downtown till about 2:00. Rights for LGBTQ+ people were limited and sometimes ignored completely. But how are you finding joy in this moment? Toshiko Akiyoshi changed the face of jazz music over her sixty-year career. She also found work waiting tables and performing in drag shows. She sometimes lived with friends. The term transgender wasnt commonly used in Marshas lifetime, but she identified as a transvestite, gay and a drag queen and used she/her pronouns. Sylvia Rivera, National Park Service,https://www.nps.gov/people/sylvia-rivera.htm. The police officers ruled her death a suicide. 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. A monument dedicated to Marsha P Johnson, the late African-American transgender activist and pioneer, will be unveiled in New York in 2021. They're really insulting to women. Lee: Are we seeing that? To learn more, check out the vocabulary resource guides from GLAAD: Transgender glossary and LGBTQ glossary. And we need the in-between. We have to be having a holistic conversation on violence that not only talks about state violence but it also talks about the violence in our own homes, in our communities. And I didn't get downtown till about 2:00. I walked down 58th Street and the young ones were calling from the sidewalk, 'Sylvia, Sylvia, thank you, we know what you did. Lee: What do you think it would take to get that kind of allegiance, especially among Black folks, right? If you would like to learn more about Johnson, we recommend Netflix's documentary ' The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson.' Article Correction: It was previously stated that Johnson said the quote,"No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us." After a boy sexually assaulted her, she stopped wearing the clothes she loved and felt most comfortable in. She was arrested over 100 times. We know that homophobia and transphobia knows no bounds. In the 1970s, Johnson experienced a series of mental health breakdowns and spent time in and out of psychiatric hospitals. But when it comes to Black trans life and death and the violence heaped upon them, it comes likely from inside the community. 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. When they could no longer pay, they were evicted. And we were all out there. Unknown photographer, A Typical Boomer Family, ca. This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project. How did Marsha feel about this? WebToday, historians and former friends of Marsha describe her as a trans woman. Engraving. Something went wrong while submitting the form. Marshas whole life seemed to be a balance between popularity and exclusion. Johnson, like many other transgender women, felt they had nothing to lose. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper were sidelined as Black women. Her lavish outfits were often made from thrift store finds, gifts from friends, and items she found on the street. Like, we all carry insecurities about our gender, about who we are and who we're supposed to be in the world. She was often abused by clients and arrested by the police. Sylvia was a Puerto Rican trans woman who was also new to New York. reinc: The story of a company founded by four US Womens National Team soccer players seeking to challenge norms and inspire lasting progress. In 1963, Rivera met Marsha P. Johnson and it changed her life. When it comes to transgender issues, I don't think people fully understand. Dive into the world of small businesses with this compilation of powerful quotes that celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit, community impact, and unwavering commitment of local business owners. 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. We'll be back next week. However, Johnson also found a community in the city, especially after meeting Latina drag queen Sylvia Rivera. Johnson is also now the subject of many documentaries. Acronym for Auto Immune Deficiency Disorder. Always sporting a smile, Johnson was an important advocate for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, those effected by H.I.V. The two became instant friends. Marsha P. Johnson. National Womens History Museum. [3]These transgender icons will be the first to get statues in the US There are plenty of cis women who don't check off a lot of criterias that are considered womanhood. At one point, Rivera attempted suicide. Willis: It does hurt. New-York Historical Society Library. So, like, what are you doin'? What is it, do you think? I actually think we're more powerful when we have numbers. no. When she was wearing these items Because as a Black trans woman, you telling me you want to abolish the police or you telling me you want to abolish prisons, that you want to defund the police doesn't necessarily put me completely at ease because I know that I could still be and am likely to be harmed by men in our communities, particularly Black cishet men. She also did not have a permanent home during this time, and bounced around sleeping at friends homes, hotels, restaurants, and movie theaters. Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor: Culinary Anthropologist, Towards Hawaiian Sovereignty: Legacy of Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask, Dr. Wangari Maathai: The story of a leader in social, environmental, and political activism and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Chronicles of American Women: Your History Makers, Women Writing History: A Coronavirus Journaling Project, We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC, Learning Resources on Women's Political Participation, Defying Expectations: Unsung Hero: Marsha P. Johnson and the Stonewall Riots, https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/who-was-marsha-p-johnson, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-york-city-monument-will-honor-transgender-activists-marsha-p-johnson-and-sylvia-rivera-180972326/, https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2017/8/24/power-people-exploring-marsha-p-johnsons-queer-liberation, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked-marsha-p-johnson.html?mtrref=&mtrref=undefined&gwh=7FAC77AD0450CB8215713140B8184F62&gwt=regi&assetType=REGIWALL, https://wams.nyhistory.org/growth-and-turmoil/growing-tensions/marsha-p-johnson/#:~:text=After%20graduating%20high%20school%2C%20Marsha,to%20questions%20about%20her%20gender, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/Sylvia-Rivera, https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/marsha-p-johnson-statue-bust-christopher-park.
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