Civil Rights Activist: Marsha P. Johnson
Marsha P. Johnson was a civil rights activist and transgender woman who fought for the rights of the LGBT+ community. She established many ways of helping those in need and has advanced the mindset of many people today. From participating in the Stonewall Riot of 1969, to housing homeless youth, Marsha Johnson was, and still is, a fierce role model to many people.
Marsha was born on August 24th, 1945 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1966, she legally changed her name from her birth name, Malcom Michaels, to Marsha P. Johnson. Throughout her life, she suffered many hardships such as homelessness, harassment, and rejection but she persisted. In the early 1970’s, Johnson and her fellow activist Sylvia Rivera founded STAR, an organization that helped to care for homeless trans kids and defend the rights of minority groups. Ms. Johnson became known as “Mother Queen” as she treated the homeless youth she took under her wing as her children. In 1969, Marsha P. Johnson was involved in the Stonewall Riot. This was a protest and riot throughout the streets of New York City to end discrimination.
Though Ms. Johnson passed in 1992 at the age of 46, she is still looked up to as a modern day revolutionary. She was a warrior for the rights of her community and a caretaker of the less fortunate. She is not well known, but she continues to inspire those who do know of her to this day.
