Transgender activist and artist Tourmaline recently announced the release of a biography on the life of queer historical icon Marsha P. Johnson.
Tourmaline has been a lifelong scholar of Marsha P. Johnson, having produced numerous documentaries, paintings, and literature on her and the events of the Stonewall Inn Rebellion, through which Johnson became prominently known.
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The biography, Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson, is published by Penguin Random House. As of Monday this week, the book is currently available for purchase.
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Marsha P. Johnson is considered one of the most important transgender activists in history and is credited with her role in the Stonewall Riots, which became a turning point for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. It is believed that Johnson was the first person to actively resist harassment of the LGBTQ+ community from law enforcement and instigate the riots.
It became a moment of power for the community and sent a clear message that we were a force to be reckoned with after years of being unfairly subjected to violence at the hands of the system.
When discussing her new book with Them, Tourmaline states, “Marsha’s been a guiding force of my life and work for so many years,” she continues. “The combination of years of learning from her and listening to her and to the people who knew her… sharing that with the world is the deepest honor.”
We’ve been seeing various biographical projects lately on transgender figures throughout our history. Examples worth mentioning include Hari Nef’s biopic on the life of Warhol star Candy Darling, and Lux Pascal’s upcoming film Miss Carbón, which tells the story of transgender Argentinian miner Carla Antonella Rodríguez.
Despite the challenges trans people currently face, it is truly uplifting to see how far we’ve come, that our stories are being shared and remembered as a part of history within media. It is empowering, to say the least, to have trans activists throughout history that you can point to, and even more so to have their stories be deemed worthy of depicting in film and literature. The validation alone from Hollywood acknowledging that our struggles are real and that trans people have always had a place in the ongoing battle for civil rights.
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