Watch It", "Here I am marching with Jon Jon and Miss Marsha one sunny Gay Day. However, none of Johnson's friends or relatives believed Johnson was suicidal. In 2015, The Marsha P. Johnson Institute was established. 580 plaques is nowhere near representative of the over 100 thousand who died in NYC from HIV/AIDS, but it still makes a far larger dent than the four (its important to acknowledge) White statues commemorating the Gay Liberation Movement inside Christopher Park in front of the Stonewall Inn. Marsha is one of many Black Trans women that have left a powerful stamp on history. [83], U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 19362007, Death, Burial, Cemetery & Obituaries: "Michaels, Malcolm Jr [Malcolm Mike Michaels Jr], [M Michae Jr], [Malculm Jr]. [5][15][16][17] Commenting on this upbringing, Johnson said, "I got married to Jesus Christ when I was sixteen years old, still in high school. Johnson's mother also encouraged her child to find a "billionaire" boyfriend or husband to take care of (Johnson) for life, a goal Johnson often talked about. During the fight he used a homophobic slur, and later bragged to someone at a bar that he had killed a drag queen named Marsha. On the second night, however, several eyewitness accounts had her climbing up a light post with a brick in her purse which she promptly let drop on a police squad car below, shattering the window. She also began to perform as a drag queen initially going by the name "Black Marsha . According to Johnson, the police had forced her and others out onto the street to line up and be frisked the night before and then returned the next night and set the Stonewall Inn on fire. "Marsha is the crowned mother of queer protest and LGBTQ resilience and resistance," said creator Yoav Wachs. In the same year, Johnson and Rivera founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), which clothed, fed, housed, and advocated for transgender youth from a tenement on the lower eastside. Marsha P. Johnsons housemate Randy Wicker in Pay It No Mind. She was 46 at the time of her death. There Johnson began frequenting bars and nightclubs dressed as a female called Black Marsha. Johnson is often credited with throwing the first stone after. "[51][52], During another incident around this time Johnson was confronted by police officers for hustling in New York. By continuing to use this site, you consent to the terms of our cookie policy, which can be found in our. Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again (2018). Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops. Homeless, she turned to prostitution to survive and soon found a like-minded community in the bawdy nightlife of Christopher Street. She was seen dropping a very heavy object on top of a police car, among other actions. Images of Marsha P. Johnson from Andy Warhols 1975 series Ladies and Gentlemen. [image: black-and-white photo of Marsha P Johnson. "[73], Near the time of Johnson's death in 1992, Randy Wicker said Johnson was increasingly sick and in a fragile state. Top Photo Credits: Photograph of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera by Rudy Grillo, c . Johnson was known for her immense generosity. Her devotions were so ardently sincere that, on several occasions, eyewitnesses place her laying prostate on the floor of Catholic Churches around six in the morning and facing away from the altar because she considered it inappropriate to look directly upon, what she believed, was the holy habitation of the Lord. LGBTQ Seniors, College Students Come Together In Lakeview Art Exhibit Community Standards I will also note that I didnt look into Marshas involvement in Stonewall during research for this episode, so I cant comment on how these sources deal with that. [6] Johnson was known as the "mayor of Christopher Street"[13] due to being a welcoming presence in the streets of Greenwich Village. She adopted the name "Black Marsha" soon after and became a fixture in the Village, where she was instantly recognizable by her bold style, notably wearing flowers in her hair. [40], While the photos of Johnson in dramatic, femme ensembles are the most well-known, there are also photos and film footage of Johnson dressed down in more daily wear of jeans and a flannel shirt and cap,[41] or in shorts and a tank top, and no wig, such as at the Christopher Street Liberation March in 1979,[42] or singing with the New York City Gay Men's Chorus at an AIDS memorial in the 1980s,[43] or marching in a protest in Greenwich Village in 1992. The witness said that when he tried to tell police what he had seen his story was ignored. That same decade, he himself became the first trans man to undergo a phalloplasty. [29], Johnson's style of drag was not serious ("high drag" or "show drag"[20]) due to being unable to afford to purchase clothing from expensive stores. "[28] In an interview with Allen Young, in 1972's, Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation, Johnson discussed being a "Street Transvestite Action Revolutionary", saying, "A transvestite is still like a boy, very manly looking, a feminine boy. This is where we get a lot of first-hand information from Marsha and most of the quotes of hers which I mentioned in the episode. [56][57] While the original location of STAR House was evicted in 1971 and the building was destroyed,[54] the household existed in different configurations and at different locations over the years. Two years later on July 6, 1994, Johnson was found drowned in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers. The police ruled her death a suicide, although friends and family cited a lack of evidence supporting that claim. [38] Johnson, who was also HIV positive,[39] became an AIDS activist and appeared in The Hot Peaches production The Heat in 1990, singing the song "Love" while wearing an ACT UP, "Silence = Death" button. [32] Johnson sang and performed as a member of J. Camicias' international, NYC-based, drag performance troupe, Hot Peaches, from 1972 through to shows in the 1990s. [29] Also discussed are Johnson's experiences of the dangers of working as a street prostitute in drag, and Johnson's husband who was murdered. Shed spend her meager earnings on meals for others and couldnt walk downtown without multiple people calling her name, wishing her well. These cookies do not store any personal information. Marsha, who was living and working in New York at the time, was one of the key figures who stood up to the police during the raids. All rights reserved. According to Matt Foreman, former director of the Anti-Violence Project, "Anti-LGBT violence was at a peak. She announced in a June 26, 1992 interview that she had been H.I.V. As I mentioned in the podcast, there has been significant controversy surrounding this documentary, and theres plenty of information about that online. About Press 2021 Impact Report Donate Subscribe to our Newsletter Resources/ Organization This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Marsha P. Johnson was a trans-rights activist who played a big role in important moments for the LGBTQ+ movement, such as the Stonewall protests. Photographed by Diana Davies. In 1972, as the face of the resistance, Johnson performed around the world with the popular drag theater company, Hot Peaches. She chose Johnson because she enjoyed hanging out at the popular eatery, Howard Johnsons. Twenty-three-year old Johnson and her friend Sylvia Rivera were caught up in the Stonewall Uprising which went on for several days and is credited as the catalyst for the Gay Movement of the late 1960s. She is credited for being an instigator in the Stonewall riots. VideoWatch Newsround - signed and subtitled, Wildflowers fit for a king: Special seeds for schools to mark coronation, County Antrim pupils record special coronation hymn. [53], With Rivera, Johnson established STAR House, a shelter for homeless gay and trans youth in 1970,[54] and paid the rent for it with money they made themselves as sex workers. She was a pioneer of the gay rights movement in the late 1960s and spent the following two decades advocating for equal rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. They just dropped her. 1945-1992 The fifth of seven children, Marsha was born Malcolm Michaels Jr. to Malcolm Michaels Sr. and Alberta (Claiborne) Michaels on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Johnson worked to provide food, clothing, emotional support and a sense of family for the young drag queens, trans women, gender nonconformists and other gay street kids living on the Christopher Street docks or in their house on the Lower East Side of New York. Thats something well be talking about later in the year! Despite this, following the events at Stonewall, Johnson and her friend .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Sylvia Rivera co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) and they became fixtures in the community, especially in their commitment to helping homeless transgender youth. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Marsha P. Johnson was born on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Born in 1945 in New Jersey, Marsha P. Johnson was an outspoken African American trans rights/gay rights/AIDS activist, sex worker, and drag queen during the late 20th century. When she got to Stonewall, she encountered shouting, fire and chaos. That summer Saturday, their anger reached a breaking point after the police returned to Stonewall Inn for the second time in two days. It was the source of a lot of my background on life for queer youth on the streets of New York, as well as containing some information about Marsha. Newsletter Subscription This profile is part of anarticlewritten by Cal Goodin for the National Parks Conservation Association. [62] Johnson was one of the activists who had been drawing attention to this epidemic of violence against the community, participating in marches and other activism to demand justice for victims, and an inquiry into how to stop the violence. positive since 1990. Birth Place: Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey [Elizabeth, New Jersey]. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Johnson and Rivera's interviews and writings in this era also at times used terminology in ways that were sarcastic and camp, other times serious, or all of the above at once. Her life has been celebrated in numerous books, documentaries and films. As the broader gay and lesbian movement shifted toward leadership from white cisgender men and women, trans people of color were swept to the outskirts of the movement. [80] Randy Wicker later said that Johnson may have hallucinated and walked into the river, or may have jumped into the river to escape harassers, but stated that Johnson was never suicidal. From 1987 through 1992, Johnson was an AIDS activist with ACT UP. [6][10][11] Though some have mistakenly credited Johnson for starting the riots, Johnson was always forthcoming about having not been present when the riots began. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. Careers Pride: What is it and why do people celebrate it? Theres also a lot of material written by Sylvia Rivera, including about her relationship with Marsha and their work with STAR. [23][24] After Johnson began hanging out with the street hustlers near the Howard Johnson's at 6th Avenue and 8th Street, their life changed. June is Pride Month, where people all over the world come together to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and raise awareness for inequalities that still stand today. The fifth of seven children, she was born Malcolm Michaels Jr. to Malcolm Michaels Sr. and Alberta (Claiborne) Michaels on August 24, 1945 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Gay people were regularly threatened and beaten by police, and were shunned by many in society. [6] In 1973, Johnson and Rivera were banned from participating in the gay pride parade by the gay and lesbian committee who were administering the event stating they "weren't gonna allow drag queens" at their marches claiming they were "giving them a bad name". She was a Catholic with a strong sense of faith. I also recommend this one in particular if youd like a very in-depth look at the claims and evidence involved. across the USA. They said nobody else had been responsible for the death. She worked both as a waitress and a sex worker. [48] On the first anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, on June 28, 1970, Johnson marched in the first Gay Pride rally, then called the Christopher Street Liberation Day. And he said, 'You know, you might wind up with nothing.' He began wearing girls clothing at a young age, but, after neighborhood children bullied him, he stopped. (194592). [14], Johnson was born Malcolm Michaels Jr. on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1946 he published Self: A Study in Ethics and Endocrinology which
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