Voices of Color: Marsha P. Johnson, the Rosa Parks of Our Movement

Marsha P. Johnson

     Hello, Everyone. Happy Pride month. Sorry to have been gone for so long.
I'm hoping to be more present here on this platform. Speaking of which...
Unless you have been living in a cave, then you all know about the protests that are happening right now across the world for Black Lives Matter. It is so important that the powers that be listen to and take action and that we all as a human race take action in any way we can to amplify the voices that are crying out for justice in this world. I'm not going to give you a laundry list or tell you what you should be doing, especially if you are a white person, as you should be paying attention already and you should be using your privilege and your platforms to be helping.





     This marks the beginning of a portrait series that I will be doing on my blog regularly called Voices of Color. I will be featuring powerful and talented People of Color from the past and present. I think it is important to amplify these voices and give them more exposure as our current media structure and historians work very hard to suppress and silence them. I'll be creating an illustrated portrait of each featured voice, sharing their work, and discussing their lives and contributions to the Art World. 

     Since it is PRIDE MONTH, however, I will be starting out with a special edition of sorts of Voices of Color. I will be focusing on those voices of the key activists of the LGBTQIA+ fight for civil rights. This week's Voice of Color is Marsha P. Johnson.



"How many years does it take for people to see that 
we're all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? 
I mean how many years does it take for people to see 
that we're all in this rat race together."
-Marsha P. Johnson

     Marsha "Pay It No Mind" Johnson is sometimes referred to as the Rosa Parks of the Gay Rights Movement.  But if you had asked her, her answer was usually more modest and she seemed, in interviews, to always downplay her role in the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and in the Gay Rights Movement that followed. If you asked her friends or fellow rioters and activists of that time, they would tell you quite a different story.


     As the legend is told, on the night of the Stonewall riots, she was at the Stonewall bar dancing and all of a sudden the music was shut off, the lights had come on and the bar was flooded with police. The police had begun to grab people and placed them in the back of police vans outside the bar. Then they had set the bar on fire. Marsha picked up a shot glass hurled into a mirror, as the bar caught fire, and shattered it as she screamed, "I got my civil rights!" Thus the Stonewall Riots began. It was known as "the shot glass heard around the world."  Great story, right? Though not everyone agreed that this is exactly what happened. Others recounted that it was a brick that Marsha had thrown at a cop that began the riots. Marsha, herself, recounted a different story. She claimed that she was not present on that first night of the riots. After hearing about the riot breakout, she had gone uptown to tell Sylvia Rivera (another key LGBTQIA+ activist) about the riots. Many claim that on the second night of the Stonewall Riots, Marsha had climbed up a light pole with a bag of bricks and dropped them down onto a police car that was parked underneath on the street. The bricks shattered the windshield. Though the details are hazy and disputed among those that were there, it is known that Marsha participated in the riots and became an important and central figure in the fight for gay rights.

Photo by Diana Davies.

"Darling, I want my gay rights now!"
-Marsha P. Johnson

     After Stonewall, Marsha joined the Gay Liberation Front. She was also one of the first participants in the very first Pride rally and parade, known then as the Christopher Street Liberation Pride rally, in June 1970 on the anniversary of the uprising at Stonewall. During a gay rights rally, she was interviewed and had shouted down the reporter's microphone,"Darlin, I want my Gay rights now!" One of the most notable actions she took specifically with the GLF was when she staged a sit-in protest at New York University alongside other members of the activist group. They were protesting the cancelation of a dance by the school's administration after they had discovered that it was being sponsored a gay organization.


Marsha P. Johnson (left) and Sylvia Rivera march in New York City in 1973.

     Marsha was known for her activism for gay rights. She was famous for it around the world. Marsha talked about being the front line of the gay rights movement in an interview. She said that Drag Queens and the Street People were the ones out there every day interacting directly with the police. They were the ones who weren't afraid to get beat up or arrested or lose their homes in the fight for gay liberation. However, over the course of several years, the Gay liberation movement began to marginalize the drag and transgender community. This is when Marsha and fellow transgender activist, Silvia Rivera, founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.) They became the only group that was concerned about the issues faced by the transgender community of that time. A sentiment that is still echoed even today as the transgender movement still fights within the LGBTQIA+ community to be heard and respected. It's so sad that this community has turned it's back on the "T" in the very acronym of our community. We can't afford to ignore their voices now and Marsha and Silvia both knew that they shouldn't have been ignored then.  They eventually opened STAR house which became a boarding home for homeless and castoff transgender people in NYC at that time. Marsha became a "Drag Mother" to the other residents in the house.




     The rent for the STAR house was paid mostly through sex work by both Marsha and Sylvia. Sex work also paid for the bail of many of the activists that were writing to STAR for help as the gay liberation movement had begun to turn their backs on their own to pursue a more "white middle class" and "palatable" image. Marsha continued her activism work regardless. She claimed that she was arrested over 100 times and shot at least once. She continued the rest of her life as a survival sex worker. She also began to struggle with issues of mental health before her untimely death.

     The rest of Marsha's story is quite a sad one. Shortly after the 1992 pride parade, her body was found floating in the Hudson River near the Christopher Street docks. Police ruled the death as a suicide but this has been disputed for years. There is a lot of speculation over what actually happened to Marsha the night that she died. There is a new and fantastic documentary on Netflix called the Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Theories range from dirty cops to the mafia, of which Marsha had claimed were after her close to the time of her demise. It's an interesting watch. I recommend it.


     Marsha was more than "just another dead drag queen." Her friends have defended her reputation to this very day. They testify that Marsha was like a Saint in a way.  She was always kind and open to everyone that came to that part of the Village. She always wished everyone a good morning everyday and she greeted every person with a hello. She was greatly generous of her spirit and of anything she had, which wasn't much, but whatever she had she gave to others in need. She was often said to be found sleeping under the tables at a local flower shop. They would give her any leftovers not used that day. This is why in any given photo you see of Marsha, she is always wearing a crown of fresh flowers. It would often be said that she would give these away to other people also. She quite literally is that person who would give you the shirt off her back. Everyone who had ever known or met her agrees, that Marsha never would have committed suicide. Never.


Polaroid by Andy Warhol.

"As long as there are people with AIDS 
and until gay people have their rights all across America, 
there is no reason to celebrate." 
-Marsha P. Johnson

     Marsha will always be a key figure in the history of gay and trans liberation. She never stopped fighting, even right up to the end. She dedicated the bulk of her life to this civil rights movement. As a community, we all owe her a great debt. We will always remember the life and lessons she taught the world. Let us lift up a shot glass this Pride Month with love in her memory.

Marsha, this one is for you. Happy Pride.


Until next time, friends,
Keep dreaming, keep sketching, keep thinking, keep laughing, and most important of all,  keep making art.
Cheers,
LEWIS

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