Frances Thompson( 1840 – 1876)

Frances Thompson was a formerly enslaved Black trans woman and anti-rape activist who was one of the five Black women to testify before Congress about the 1866 Memphis Massacre. Thompson and the other five women’s testimonies contributed to the 1871 Enforcement Act by proving how the racist and sexual violence afflicted on them violated the 14th and 15th Amendments which “guaranteed the rights of African Americans and highlighted the widespread violence and intimidation that sought to prevent African Americans from exercising their rights.”

Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992)

Born on August 24th, 1945 in New Jersey to Malcolm Michaels Sr. and Alberta Claiborne, Marsha moved to New York City in a time of LGBTQ+ persecuation and violence. She described herself as a gay person, a transvestite, and a drag queen. Marsha went by “BLACK Marsha” before settling on Marsha P. Johnson. The “P” stood for “Pay It No Mind,” which is what Marsha would say in response to questions about her gender.

Johnson did waitressing, drag shows, and sex work to survive and later joined the frontlines of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising after it had started. She and Sylvia Rivera founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), “an organization dedicated to sheltering young transgender individuals who were shunned by their families.”

Her body was found in the Hudson River on July 6th, 1992, the worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ violence according to the New York Anti-Violence Project. Police reclassified her death from suicide to drowning, enraging the LGBTQ+ community for the lack of further investigation. Hundreds attended her funeral. Marsha P. Johnson is a pioneer of not just Black queer activism and movements but for queer activism in general, particularly for Black trans women and sex workers.

Xica Manicongo

Manicongo is a distorted way of saying Mwene Kongo, lord of the Congo; Xica was a way that gender dissidents, especially Black women, used to rescue her from a violent naming that the world of slavery had addressed to her: Francisco.

In 1592, an enlsaved African woman was trafficked from the Congo to Salvador and worked as a shoemaker. Following the Kimbanda practitioners of her home, Xica wore a fabric tied with a front knot and proudly described and carried herself as a woman around the city. She was known to have many lovers. Offended by identity, a Portuguese Christian accused her of sodomy and the Holy Inquisition of Court sentenced her to burn at the stake in public and to have her descendants dishonored for three generations.

Xica was rediscovered by trans activists in Brazil and acknowleged as the first “travesti” targeted by the Brazilian state. Her preferred name—Xica Manicongo—was posthumously given by Majorie Marchi (1974-2016), a Black travesti activist who chaired the Rio de Janeiro Travestis and Trans People’s Association [Associação de Travestis e Transexuais do Rio de Janeiro—ASTRA-Rio]. Coletivo Xica Manicongo is a militant collective of trans artists in Brazil named in Xica’s honor.