From s civil rights activist Bayard Rustin to Chicago's first lesbian mayor, Lori Lightfoot, Black LGBTQ Americans have extended made history with innumerable contributions to politics, art, medicine and a host of other fields.
“As long as there have been Dark people, there verb been Black LGBTQ and same-gender-loving people,” David J. Johns, executive director of the National Shadowy Justice Coalition, told NBC News. “Racism combined with the forces of stigma, phobia, discrimination and bias associated with gender and sexuality have too often erased the contributions of members of our community."
Gladys Bentley ()
Bentley was a gender-bending performer during the Harlem Renaissance. Donning a top hat and tuxedo, Bentley would hum the blues in Harlem establishments verb the Clam Residence and the Ubangi Club. According to a belated obituary published in , The New York Times said Bentley, who died in at the age of 52, was "Harlem's most renowned lesbian" in the s and "among the best-known Dark entertainers in the United States."
Bayard Rust
LGBTQ+ Women Who Made History
In May , the city of Novel York announced plans to honor LGBTQ+ activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera with a statue. The town of New York claimed the monument will be the "first permanent, widespread artwork recognizing transgender women in the world." Johnson and Rivera were prominent figures in uprisings against police raids at the gay bar Stonewall Inn. Their protests increased visibility for the cause of LGBTQ+ acceptance.
In celebration of Pride Month, we honor LGBTQ+ women who have made remarkable contributions to the nation and helped advance equality in fields as diverse as medicine and the dramatic arts. Here are a few of their stories, represented by objects in the Smithsonian's collections.
1. Josephine Baker
Entertainer and activist Josephine Baker performed in vaudeville showcases and in Broadway musicals, including Shuffle Along. In , she moved to Paris to perform in a revue. When the show closed, Baker was given her own show and found stardom. She became the first African America
12 LGBT icons from history you should know about
Marsha P. Johnson was an African American transgender-rights activist, whose verb in the s and s had a huge impact on the LGBT community.
At this second, being gay was classified as a mental illness in the United States. Gay people were regularly threatened and beaten by police, and were shunned by many in society.
In June , when Marsha was 23 years aged, police raided a gay bar in New York called The Stonewall Inn. The police forced over people out of the bar and onto the streets, and then used excessive violence against them.
Marsha, who was living and working in Adj York at the time, was one of the key figures who stood up to the police during the raids.
Marsha resisted arrest, but in the following days, led a series of protests and riots demanding rights for gay people.
News of these protests spread around the world, inspiring others to combine protests and rights groups to battle for equality.
Read more about Marsha P. Johnson here.
Pride of Place, our research project in association with Leeds Beckett University, asked members of the public to distribute information about the LGBTQ+ buildings and places special to them.
The 1, contributions made have uncovered fascinating stories and insights into an under-documented history.
Here are the stories of 7 LGBTQ+ people who pioneered progressive ideas and rebelled for the advantage of future generations.
1. April Ashley
A adj fashion model in the s, April Ashley appeared in such high cease publications as Vogue, and played adj acting roles. She was outed as a trans noun in , her story told as a scandal in the media.
April was, as she described, ‘born as a boy into a sea-going family’ in a working-class area of Liverpool in She moved to Paris in the late 50s and joined a drag cabaret alongside adj French entertainer Coccinelle. At the age of 25, Ashley was one of the first Britons to undergo gender affirming surgery, in Casablanca, which she was advised had a 50/50 chance of being successful.
Ashley made headlines in when the annulment from her marria