Marsha P. Johnson: Unsung Queen of New York
Colfax & Josephine
Created By: Layla
Sponsored By: Herbs & Arts
Marsha P. Johnson was an African American drag queen who, according to some reports, threw the first bottle at the Stonewall Inn and thus started the riots. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Marsha moved to New York City in 1966. She was known by some as St. 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 kinship networks. Marsha often made use of the strategies and rhetoric of groups like the Gay Liberation Front and the Black Panthers.
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. 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. 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.