10 Black LGBTQ+ Trailblazers Who Paved The Way
In honor of Black History Month, it’s important to educate ourselves on the Black LGBTQ+ folks who paved the way. Here is a list of 10 Black influencers who made a prominent impact on the LGBTQ+ community during a time that living as an openly queer or trans person was not an easy task. We must remember their legacy as we continue anti-racist work for a braver and bolder tomorrow.
James Baldwin
(1924-1987)
James Baldwin was a novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist. Through his writings, he explored and highlighted the intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in the United States during the mid twentieth-century. He is best known for his novel Giovanni’s Room, which discusses the complex representations of homosexuality and bisexuality. At it’s time, it stood out to literary critics because it features all white characters, unlike his other novels which center experiences of Black people during the civil rights era. James spent a majority of his literary and activist career educating others about the Black and queer experience and idenity. He was truly a pioneer of his time. James poems and essays are still used today to help educate and advance our communities knowledge of the Black Queer experience in the mid twentieth-century.
Marsha P. Johnson
(1945-1992)
Marsha P. Johnson was a liberation activist, self-identified drag queen, performer, and survivor. Marsha was truly an individual ahead of her time. Her middle initial “P” stood for “Pay It No Mind,” which is what Marsha would say in response to questions about her gender. She was an outspoken transgender rights activist and was one of the central figures in the historic Stonewall uprising of 1969. Marsha worked closely with her friend Sylvia Rivera in fighting for trans rights and together they formed the Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a radical political organization that provided housing and other forms of support to homeless queer youth and sex workers in Manhattan. She was tragically found dead on July 6, 1992 at the age of 46. Her life has been celebrated in numerous books, documentaries, and films. She is truly one of the bravest trailblazers in the history of the LGBTQ+ movement. Her legacy lives on through the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, which has the mission of protecting and defending the human rights of Black transgender people.
Audre Lorde
(1934-1992)
Audre Lorde was a writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, & poet." Audre made very important and influential contributions in the feilds of feminist theory, critical race studes, and queer theory through her pedagogy and writing. Her work focused on addressing and confronting injustices of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and homophobia. Some of her most notable work includes The Black Unicorn, The Cancer Journals, Coal, and Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. Along with her well known writing, her poetry was known in the community for her emotional expression and technical mastery. Audre expressed the anger and outrage she had at the civil and social injustices she observed throughout her life. “I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t,” Lorde once said.
Willi Ninja
(1961-2006)
Willi Ninja was a dancer, choreographer, and the “Grandfather of Vogue.” Willi was best known for his appearance in the documentary film Paris Is Burning. The award-winning 1990 documentary chronicled the Harlem Drag Ball culture which provided Black and Latino youth a space to express nonconforming gender presentations. Willi Ninja founded the House of Ninja in 1982, acting as a mother to a group of adopted gay and transgender youth in New York City. Willi helped create and shape the dance form of voguing that combined exaggerated model poses and intricate mime-like choreography. After appearing in the documentary Paris is Burning, Willi rose to fame as a choreographer, musician, runway model and modeling coach, as well as serving as a direct inspiration to various artists who immortalized the style in their music videos. Willi Ninja’s life illustrates what it means to be a Black gay male in a world that lauds white male heteronormativity. His legacy continues as the House of Ninja members keep voguing alive and advocate on behalf of their mother to raise HIV/AIDS awareness.
Stormé DeLarverie
(1920-2014)
Stormé DeLarverie was a performer, drag king, guardian, and caretaker for the LGBTQ+ community. Stormé grew up in New Orleans and as a teenager she joined the Ringling Brothers Circus where she rode jumping horses. Later in life, Stormé toured the Black theater circuit as the MC - and only drag king - for the Jewel Box Revue, the first racially integrated drag revue in the US. Stormé was known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was (according to Stormé and many eyewitnesses) the spark that ignited the Stonewall riots, spurring the crowd to action. She worked as a bouncer in several lesbian bars in New York City and held leadership positions in the Stonewall Veterans Association. Stormé was a well-known protector of LGBTQ+ folks and would later be called “guardian of lesbians in the Village,” as she served the community as a volunteer patrol worker. Beyond her incredible attributes to the LGBTQ+ community, Stormé also organized and performed at fundraisers for women and children who suffered from domestic violence. Stormé was the definition of a caretaker for our community and beyond.
Gladys Bentley
(1907-1960)
Gladys Bentley was a blues singer, pianist, and gender-bending entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance. Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry's Clam House in New York in the 1920s, as a Black, lesbian, cross-dressing performer. She additionally headlined in the early 1930s at Harlem's Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chorus line of drag queens. She dressed in men's clothes (including her signature: tuxedo and top hat), played piano, and sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular tunes of the day in a deep, growling voice while flirting with women in the audience. Gladys spent much of her life receiving criticism for dressing in “men’s clothing” but, she continued to be brave and paved the way for many LGBTQ+ folks for decades to come. According to a 2019 New York Times article, Gladys was “Harlem’s most famous lesbian” in the 1930s and among the best-known Black entertainers in the United States.
Bayard Rustin
(1912-1987)
Bayard Rustin was a leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Bayard was best known for being a key adviser to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Bayard worked with A. Philip Randolph on the March on Washington Movement, in 1941, to press for an end to racial discrimination in employment. Bayard later organized Freedom Rides, and helped to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to strengthen Martin Luther King Jr.'s leadership and teaching King about nonviolence; he later served as an organizer for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He worked as a leader in organizations such as Crusade for Citizenship, In Friendship, and A. Philip Randolph Institute. Bayard dedicated his life to activism work and in 2013 President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Ernestine Eckstein
(1941-1992)
Ernestine Eckstein helped steer the United States LGBTQ+ rights movement during the 1960s. She was a leader in the New York chapter of Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. She attended "Annual Reminder" picket protests and was frequently one of the only women — and the only Black woman — present at early LGBTQ+ rights protests. Her understanding of, and work in, the Civil Rights Movement lent valuable experience on public protest to the lesbian and gay movement. Ernestine worked among influential activists such as Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, Barbara Gittings, Franklin Kameny, and Randy Wicker. In the 1970s she became involved in the black feminist movement, in particular the organization Black Women Organized for Action (BWOA). According to historians, she viewed the fight for civil rights and LGBTQ rights as intrinsically linked.
Barbara Jordan
(1936-1996)
Barbara Jordan was a lawyer, educator, and politician who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Barbara Jordan became the first Black person to be elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, and the first woman and first Black person to be elected to Congress from Texas in 1971. She was best known for her powerful opening statement at the House Judiciary Committee hearings during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon, and as the first Black woman to deliver a keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention. Barbara was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 1994 for her work as a political trailblazer. While Barbara never explicitly acknowledged her sexual orientation in public, she was open about her life partner of nearly 30 years, Nancy Earl. It’s pretty powerful knowing that Barbara was the first Black Queer Woman to break the glass ceiling in many ways throughout her life.
Alvin Ailey
(1931-1989)
Alvin Ailey was a dancer, director, choreographer, and activist. Alvin founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Ailey School as safe havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance. His work fused theatre, modern dance, ballet, and jazz with Black vernacular, creating hope-fueled choreography that continues to spread global awareness of Black life in America. Ailey's choreographic masterpiece Revelations is recognized as one of the most popular and most performed ballets in the world. In recognition of AAADT's 50th anniversary (2008), then Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared December 4 "Alvin Ailey Day" in New York City. In 2014, Ailey was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his influential work in bringing dance to underserved communities.
“History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
