February 1st marks the start of black history month. It is a time to look back on the accomplishments of black people throughout history and look forward to celebrating all their successes. African American women have been some of the most influential figures in many different civil rights movements. Let’s start this month celebrating all they have done to further the rights for people of all colors, genders, and sexualities.
Marsha P. Johnson
Photo courtesy of Netflix’s Pay It No Mind – The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson
Who else could start this list but Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson herself? Marsha was a leading figure in the stonewall riots in the 60’s and is widely considered to be one of the mothers of the gay rights movements in America. Johnson was a transgender woman, who performed as a drag queen, which at the time was one of the few ways trans women were able to express their identity safely. She was a founding member of the Street Transvestite* Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a groundbreaking organization that helped homeless youth during a time when gay and trans children were routinely disowned and kicked out of their homes by their parents.
Miss Major
Photo courtesy of Quinn Dombrowski
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is an elder in the LGBT community whose activism work has furthered the rights of many. She was present at the Stonewall Riots and afterwards worked with Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera on pushing for the rights of trans people, specifically the rights of impoverished and imprisoned trans women. Miss Major has lived through some of the biggest events in LGBT history and has helped the communities around her through them all.
As a tribute, she currently running a fundraiser to help support her through her golden years.
E. Denise Simmons
Photo courtesy of Thomas Allen Harris and PBS
Denise Simmons became the first black lesbian mayor when she was unanimously elected in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2008. She is well known for her work to make local government more accessible to the people it governs, attempting to involve more people through town hall meetings, and creating an open-door atmosphere. Her election was a victory for local communities and the national LGBT community. She continues to push for the rights of LGBT people and involvement in local government as a city councilor.
Barbara Smith
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Barbara Smith played in important role in the black feminism movement, and her work continues to support intersectional feminism to this day. She began her activism in high school when she attended school desegregation protests. Through the 70’s she pushed for academia to include the literary works of black women in college classes. She was outspoken in her support of lesbians in black feminist movements.
In 1980, she co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U.S. publisher of works by women of color, which broke women of color into the world of literature and paved the way for famous authors like Amy Tan, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker.
*Transvestite is now considered outdated, the preferred term is transgender.