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🌸1945 – 1992
⭐ Featured StoryActivistTrans Rights
Marsha P. Johnson
Pay It No Mind
New York City · 1945 – 1992
Before there was a Pride parade, before there was a movement with a name, there was Marsha P. Johnson — a Black transgender woman from Elizabeth, New Jersey, who arrived in New York City with $15 and a bag of clothes and became one of the most important figures in LGBTQ history. She didn't set out to start a revolution. She just refused to disappear.
"I may be crazy, but that don't make me wrong."
Photo Gallery
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Greenwich Village, New York City
Home & Community1969
Achievement Badges
Full Biography
Timeline & Key Milestones
1945
Born Malcolm Michaels Jr. in Elizabeth, New Jersey
1963
Arrived in New York City with $15 and a bag of clothes
1969
Present at the Stonewall Uprising — a pivotal moment in LGBTQ history
1970
Co-founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with Sylvia Rivera
1970s
Performed with drag troupe Hot Peaches; modeled for Andy Warhol
1980s
Became an ACT UP activist during the AIDS crisis
1992
Died on July 6; body found in the Hudson River
2012
NYPD reopened investigation into her death
2019
Posthumously honored with a NYC statue and street renaming
2020
Featured in the Netflix documentary 'The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson'
Achievements & Legacy
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Stonewall Uprising
Among the first to resist police at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969
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STAR House Founder
Co-founded one of the first shelters for homeless transgender youth in the U.S.
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ACT UP Activist
Fought for AIDS awareness and government response throughout the 1980s
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Cultural Icon
Performed with Hot Peaches; modeled for Andy Warhol; beloved Village figure
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NYC Statue
Posthumously honored with a statue in Greenwich Village alongside Sylvia Rivera
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Enduring Legacy
Subject of documentaries, murals, and academic study worldwide
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