Marsha P. Johnson, 1945-1992

Marsha P. Johnson

1945-1992

Marsha P. Johnson was an African American queen who was an active participant in the Stonewall riots. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Marsha moved to New York
City in 1966. She was known by some as “Saint Marsha” due to her kindness and willingness to share what she had.

She started the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera in 1970. They aimed to help homeless transgender youth while also protesting police harassment. STAR House was created to provide a home for transgender youth. It built upon an already existing culture found in black and Latinx LGBTQ community networks. Marsha often made use of the strategies and rhetoric of groups like the Gay Liberation Front and the Black Panthers.

To support herself, Marsha sometimes worked as a sex worker. By 1979, she had barely escaped from multiple physical attacks by johns, several breakdowns due to mental health, and over one hundred arrests. She was found dead in the Hudson River in July of 1992. The crowd at her funeral swelled into the hundreds, causing the police to shut down Seventh Avenue to allow the mourners to spill onto the street. Initially her death was ruled a suicide and not investigated further due to Marsha’s long history of struggling with mental health issues. It wasn’t until 2012 that her case was reopened for further investigation. No arrests were ever made.