Black Herstory Month: Celebrating Radical Revolutionary, Martha P. Johnson
Marsha P. Johnson was a transgender activist and a popular figure in New York City’s gay and art scene from the 1960s to the 1990s.
One of the city’s oldest and best known drag queens, Johnson participated in clashes with the police amid the Stonewall Riots. She was a co-founder, along with Sylvia Rivera, of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) in the early 1970s. She also was the “mother” of S.T.A.R. House along with Sylvia, getting together food and clothing to help support the young queens living in the house on the lower East Side of New York.
Once, appearing in a court the judge asked Marsha, “What does the ‘P’ stand for?”, Johnson gave her customary response “Pay it No Mind.” This phrase became her trademark. In 1974 Marsha P. Johnson was photographed by famed artist Andy Warhol, as part of a “ladies and gentlemen” series of Polaroids featuring drag queens. An interview with Marsha P. Johnson by gay activist Allen Young can be found in the book “Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation,” originally published in 1972 and available in a new edition from New York University Press.
In July 1992, Johnson’s body was found floating in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers shortly after the 1992 Pride March. Police ruled the death a suicide. Johnson friends and supporters said she was not suicidal, and a people’s postering campaign later declared that Johnson had earlier been harassed near the spot where her body was found. Attempts to get the police to investigate the cause of death were unsuccessful.
Today Johnson’s legacy still survives, and popular New York City art band Antony and the Johnsons adopted their name from Johnson.
(via feministsuperpowers)
Notes
-
butkpop likes this
-
pinkrabbits reblogged this from historyisburning
-
astralsexting likes this
-
crude-sunlight likes this
-
wefoundloveinaknopelessplace reblogged this from neoliberalismkills
-
mercerm likes this
-
historyisburning reblogged this from radicalqueerbrownboy and added:
Marsha P. Johnson (1944 – July 6, 1992) Transgender activist and queer scenester.
-
jurasikk reblogged this from hills-are-mountains
-
hills-are-mountains reblogged this from thatqueeryoungbuck
-
thestoutorialist likes this
-
littlebabybutthead reblogged this from konagrown
-
littlebabybutthead likes this
-
darcyneversleeps likes this
-
happinessinthemountainss likes this
-
wildhorsesarewhatyoutoldme likes this
-
konagrown reblogged this from girlsgetbusyzine
-
fauvette reblogged this from feministsuperpowers
-
tansytea reblogged this from violentqueers
-
music-fox reblogged this from violentqueers
-
telegantmess likes this
-
strangeloopstrangeloop likes this
-
crustlords likes this
-
mendmydresspress reblogged this from girlsgetbusyzine
-
melisscellaneous reblogged this from queersmiles
-
blackmagicalgirlmisandry likes this
-
femmefluid reblogged this from adverseffects
-
femmestache likes this
-
moorthodox reblogged this from lilhellflames
-
shewriteswrites likes this
-
mermaid-vision reblogged this from revengeroadtripmixtape
-
lilhellflames reblogged this from violentqueers
-
lilhellflames likes this
-
revengeroadtripmixtape reblogged this from violentqueers
-
narcoleptic95 likes this
-
freesamuel likes this
-
adverseffects reblogged this from violentqueers
-
adverseffects likes this
-
thelieinliza reblogged this from violentqueers
-
queerness-and-coffeebeans reblogged this from violentqueers
-
violentqueers reblogged this from radicalqueerbrownboy
-
opercursocomplexodeumamulher reblogged this from feministsuperpowers
-
bvena likes this
-
mangoestho reblogged this from seam-and-destroy
-
raw-deal likes this
-
rustbeltjessie likes this
-
seam-and-destroy reblogged this from girlsgetbusyzine
-
otipemsiw reblogged this from feministsuperpowers
-
bellerebels likes this
-
ghoulfriendsforever likes this
- Show more notes
