Interwoven: How Black LGBTQ+ History Shapes Queer Culture
By Genevieve Balivet (she/her/hers)
In a world of White supremacy, even the 2SLGBTQ+ movement isn’t exempt from whitewashing, or erasing people of color. This extends to queer history, where the community often overlooks and disregards the contributions and experiences of queer people of color. However, this Black History Month can remind us to use an intersectional lens and explore how Black history in particular is interwoven with queer history. Let’s take a look at the Black people at the forefront of the most significant movements in queer history, and how they have shaped the art, culture, and activism we know today.
The Origins of Drag
Drag performance is perhaps the most well-known form of queer art. But less well-known is the first drag queen was a Black, formerly enslaved man named William Dorsey Swann. In the 1880s, Swann moved to Washington D.C. to work as a janitor, sending money to family in Maryland. During this time, he began hosting private events where guests “donned women’s clothing or men’s suits and danced to folk music,” according to Smithsonian Magazine. “Drag queen,” the title Swann eventually adopted, combined this non-conforming gender expression and the Black community’s emancipation. “Queen” was inspired by the annual D.C. Emancipation Day parades, where Black women were crowned “queens of freedom.” ”Drag,” meanwhile, possibly came from “grand rag,” an old term for a masquerade ball.
Swann was arrested in 1895 under false charges and spent months in prison. He petitioned for a pardon from President Cleveland, one of the first examples of queer legal advocacy, though Cleveland denied it. While Swann retired from performing in 1900, drag persisted in D.C. and other cities across the country. Swann was not the first person to express his gender in a non-conforming way. But he transformed it into an art form and gave it a name. Drag arose from a Black man joyfully subverting gender norms and defending his freedom, which became the community we know today.
Preserving Queer Nightlife
Nightclubs and bars have long been a part of queer culture. But oppressive laws, police raids, and violence have tried to quash the practice. This was the case in the 1920s and 1930s in New York City. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Committee of Fourteen, a citizen group, worked with police to “to enforce anti-vice laws,” which punished people for being queer—at least, in the White community.
In Harlem, which was undergoing its iconic Renaissance, the Black queer community enjoyed a flourishing nightlife. The Committee of Fourteen dismissed Black people as unimportant; their racism unintentionally allowed Harlem’s queer residents a little more freedom. Music performers like Jimmie Daniels and Gladys Bently openly expressed their sexualities and mocked the era’s gender norms. Queer patrons could meet publicly, make friends and find partners, and have fun together. In an era when laws threatened queer nightlife, the Black community of Harlem kept the tradition alive for future generations.
Activism for All
Black queer activists have led some of the most groundbreaking campaigns in queer history—look no further than Marsha P. Johnson, the Black trans woman who was a frontline protester in the 1969 Stonewall Riots and co-founder of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). STAR supported trans youth without housing, making it one of the U.S.’s first trans rights organizations. Johnson became a prominent activist, hosting protests, performing in drag shows, and advocating for people with HIV. She was known not only for her advocacy, but for her joy and indomitable spirit. She remains a powerful symbol of resistance to this day.
Black activists and history-makers continue to move queer rights forward. One example is Yasmin Benoit, an aromantic/asexual activist and model. Known for starting the #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike movement, she is a board member of the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) and co-founded International Asexuality Day on April 6th. She also teamed up with the Stonewall organization to release a report on asexuality discrimination in the U.K. Her work highlights the intersectionality of race and queerness not only among asexual people, but across the 2SLGBTQ+ community. As Black queer activists, Benoit and Johnson have fought for queer liberation which includes everyone.
Queer history and Black history are intertwined. Remembering this helps us ensure Black queer people are centered and supported in our fight for rights, this month and throughout the year. Happy Black History Month!
