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15 Black LGBT+ Activists and Change-Makers Throughout History

All to often LGBT+ history only focuses on those considered mainstream. It tends to focus on the experiences and contributions of white people and forgets people of colour. This project strives to always be inclusive of all LGBT+ folks and recognizes that people of colour have always existed and have been on the front lines of the LGBT+ rights movement.

In honour of Black History Month, the LGBT+ Inclusion Project would like to celebrate the work of Black LGBT+ activists and change-makers throughout history. This list is by no means exhaustive and we recognize the work of all Black activists and change-makers throughout history and today.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875 - 1935)

Image Source: Poetry Foundation

Alice Dunbar Nelson was born in New Orleans in 1875. Her mother was a former slave and her father a white man. At fifteen she started a teacher training program and worked as a teacher on and off throughout her adult life. At the age of 20 she published what is thought to be the first short story collection published by a black woman in America; Violets and Other Tales. She wrote throughout her life and often dealt with the themes of women’s oppression, identity issues, and being biracial. Dunbar-Nelson married three men and had several relationships with various women. In 1920 she lost her teaching job for being a vocal supporter of women’s suffrage, anti-lyinching laws, and the peace movement.

Lucy Hicks Anderson (1886 – 1954)

Image Source: Black Then

Lucy Hicks Anderson was born in Kentucky in 1885 and as a child insisted on being allowed to wear a dress and be called Lucy. By fifteen years old she had left home, was working as a domestic, and was living full time as a woman. She was first married in 1920 but was divorced nine years later. In 1944, she remarried and a year later had to undergo a medical examination. It was during that examination that she was outed. This outing led to her marriage being considered void and her being arrest for perjury. At her trial she challenged the courts perceptions of what it means to be a woman and was quoted as saying, “I defy any doctor to prove that I am not a woman … I have lived, dressed, acted just as what I am, a woman.” She was sentenced to ten years probation. Later, both her and her husband were convicted for fraud because she received his allotment cheques as a wife of a member of the U.S. government. Lucy Hicks Anderson paved the way for trans rights by living her life and openly challenging society’s of gender identity.

Bayard Rustin (1912-1987)

Image Source: History is Queer

Bayard Rustin is generally known for the huge role he played in organizing the infamous March on Washington in 1963. However, his activism stretches beyond that. Starting in the 1930s as a university student Rustin involved himself in activism through a lens of pacifism, non-violent resistance, and socialism. During World War Two he fought with African-American Labor leader A. Philip Randolph against racial discrimination in war-effort hiring. The two would later create the A. Philip Randolph Institute which was a labor organization for African-American trade union members. It was also during the war that he was arrested for refusing to sign up for the draft. When he began working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1956 he already had a wealth of experience and knowledge of civil disobedience. This knowledge and experience was key as they organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Despite being arrested for homosexuality, Rustin lived his life as an openly gay man.

Audre Lorde (1934-1992)

Image Source: Freedom Archives

Audre Lorde was a prominent poet, writer, and activist and described herself as “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” Her writing reflected her identity and sense of self and deal with the themes of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Her writing career started early and as a teenager she was published in Seventeen Magazine. In 1980 she co-founded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. The company was the first publishing company run only by women of color and sought to promote the work of all women of color. Lorde also founded the group Sisterhood in Support of Sister in South Africa which was an anti-apartheid organization. Lorde’s work continues to inspire and invoke emotion and discussion.

Barbara Jordan (1936 – 1996)

Image Source: History, Art and Archives

Barbara Jordan has been known as a woman of firsts. After graduating from Texas Southern University, she attended Boston University Law School as one of the only black students. When she was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966 she was the first woman to be elected to the position and the first black person since Reconstruction. In 1972 she made history again as she became the first black congresswoman to be elected from the south. As a politician, she helped create Texas’ first law on minimum wage, formed the Texas Fair Employment Practices Commission, and became known as a defender of the constitution and morality. Her reputation as a moral compass was solidified when she called for the impeachment of Nixon for his involvement in Watergate. In 1979 she chose to not run for re-election and while she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis she published a memoir and took up a teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin. The later years of her life were spent teaching and continuing to serve the public. This work included serving as special counsel on ethics for the Texas Governor and leading the Commission on Immigrant Reform. In 1994 she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton. In 1996 she passed away due to complications from leukemia.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (1940 - )

Image Source: CBC

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. As a teenager she became involved in the drag ball scene. She moved to New York after being kicked out of two colleges for openly expressing her identity as a woman. In New York, she became involved with the LGBT community who hung out at the Stonewall Inn and in 1969 Miss Major participated in the riots. Since then she has continued to be an activist and advocate. After moving to California Miss Major began work to provide food and other resources for trans women who had been incarcerated, were struggling with addiction, or were homeless. During the AIDS epidemic, she was living in San Diego and provided those suffering with emotional and medical support. She also organized funerals, often multiple per week, for those who died due to AIDS-related illness. At seventy-seven she continues her work as an activist and advocate as the Executive Director of the Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project.

Alice Walker (1944 – )

Image Source: MAKERS

Alice Walker is a long-time writer, poet and activist. Her interests and work extend to many marginalized groups including women, people of color, poor people, AIDS victims and their children, and victims of war. Walker participated in the civil rights movement of the 1960s including the March on Washington in 1963 and volunteering to register black people to vote in Georgia and Mississippi. She has been the recipient of several literary and activist awards. Today, she continues to write and advocate for those in need around the world.

Angela Davis (1944 - )

Image Source: Black Enterprise

Angela Davis had been an activist since a teenager growing up in Birmingham, Alabama. As a student and then scholar in the late 1960s and early 1970s she joined several civil rights movement groups including the American Communist Party, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party. Her involvement with the American Community Party led to the loss of her job as an assistant professor at UCLA. Her continued political involvement, including her efforts towards prison reform and addressing racial bias in the prison system, led to her being put on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. In 1972 she was tried and acquitted of all charges. Despite protest from former California Governor Ronald Reagan she was given a teaching post at San Francisco State University in 1977. Her scholarly work has focused on various forms of oppression and contributed to the polarization of the idea of the “prison industrial complex.” In 1997 Davis publicly came out in an interview with OUT Magazine. Today, she continues to teach in California, lecture across the world and fight all forms of oppression.

Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson (1945-1992)

Image Source: Alchetron

Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson was a prominent LGBT+ rights activist from the 1960s until her death in 1992. Johnson was a leader at the infamous Stonewall Riots of 1969 and is often credited as throwing the first shot glass that incited the riots. After the riots, she co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) group which provided support, food, and housing for homeless LGBT+ youth especially trans and gender non-conforming youth who could not find help elsewhere. A main goal of the group was to keep youth away from prostitution and drugs. Johnson was also a prominent member of the Gay Liberation Front and fought to have the mainstream gay rights movement include trans and gender non-conforming folks, homeless people, and people of colour. Her life ended in 1992 under suspicious circumstances.

Margaret Sloan-Hunter (1947 - 2004)

Image Source: African-American Registry

Margaret Sloan-Hunter was a feminist, writer, poet, lecturer and activist. Her work was focused on addressing issues such as poverty, racism, sexism, and homophobia. Her community work began at the age of fourteen when she joined the Chicago chapter of the Congress for Racial Equality. With C.O.R.E. she helped organize rent strikes and other initiatives that addressed and combated racism and poverty. At the age of seventeen she founded the Junior Catholic Inter-Racial Council. In the 1960s she joined the American Civil Rights movement and worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout her life she fought for equality. Her work included editing Ms. magazine, founding and chairing the National Black Feminist Organization, co-founding Lavender Women, organizing for the Berkeley Women’s Center, lecturing across America and internationally on oppression.

Simon Nkoli (1957 – 1998)

Image Source: Soweto Urban

Simon Nkoli was an anti-apartheid and LGBT activist in South Africa. In the 1970s he participated in the student uprisings against apartheid. His anti-apartheid activism lead to his arrest in 1984 on the grounds of treason. His LGBT activism included joining the white-dominated Gay Association for South Africa with the hope of convincing them to move to events out of white only spaces. After it became clear that this was not going to happen Nkoli founded the Saturday Group which was the first black LGBT group of its kind in Africa. Nkoli went on to co-found the Gay and Lesbian Organization of Witwatersand, the Township Aids Project, and the Gay Men’s Health Forum. He contracted HIV and was one of the first people in the country to be open about their status. His work with LGBT activism, the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela led to a post-apartheid South Africa where people the constitution protected people regardless of sexual orientation.

David Kato (1964 – 2011)

Image Source: GLAAD

David Kato was a teacher and LGBT rights activist in Uganda. In the early 1990s Kato was dismissed from his teaching job for his sexual orientation. After living in South Africa for a few years he returned to Uganda in 1998 and came out as gay publicly in a press conference. It was this movement that earned him the title of “Uganda’s first openly gay man.” In 2004 he founded Uganda’s first LGBT organization, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). His activism, especially his opposition to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, led to his picture being published in a Ugandan tabloid paper. The paper identified him, and others, as gay wit the caption “hang them.” Kato successfully sued the newspaper. Three months later he was murdered. While Kato’s life was tragically cut short his work has continued to inspire LGBT activists in Uganda and abroad.

Rev. Elder Darlene Garner (unknown – )

Image Source: PAD Conference – Metropolitan Community Church

Reverend Elder Darlene Garner is an activist, religious leader, and changemaker in America. Garner was ordained in the Metropolitan Community Church in 1988 and was the first African-American elder in the church. After she was ordained she took an activist role in the community which included serving as the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Sexual Minorities. During the AIDS crisis of the 1980s Garner served as a chaplain for an AIDS hospice and as the president of the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry. Additionally, her work has included co-founding the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays, is a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Council, a member of the Religion Council of the Human Rights Campaign, and chaired the first International Conference for Gay and Lesbian People of Color. In 2010 Garner and her partner were among the first same-gender couples in the District of Columbia to apply for a same-gender marriage license.

E. Denise Simmons (unknown - )

Image Source: PBS

E. Denise Simmons made history when she was elected as the first African-American, lesbian Mayor in America in 2008. Simmons continues to serve as Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts today. Her political career started in the 1990s when she became a member of the Cambridge board of education. As a board member, she worked to provide support for, and improve the academic performance of, marginalized students. In 2002 she was elected as a City Council member. As Mayor, Simmons has focused on collaborating with the community she serves to promote small busineses, revitalization, Green Job initiatives, stable employment, education and addressing racism especially in terms of racial profiling. Additionally, she is the Executive Director of the Cambridge Civic Unity Committee and owns and operates an insurance agency. Simmons has always worked to serve all members of the community.

Blake Brockington (1996 – 2015)

Image Source: The Advocate

Blake Brockington first gained national, and international, attention when he became the first openly trans homecoming king in North Carolina. Brockington began to transition in grade ten and moved into foster care in order to transition. He was an active member of the North Carolina LGBT community. He was an activist for LGBT right, Black Lives Matter, and spoke out against police brutality and racial profiling. Additionally, he was a participant in the Trans Faith and Action Network Conference and was a mentor for other trans youth. Sadly, in 2015, Brockington lost his life to suicide.

#lgbt #lgbt history #black history month #lesbian #gay #bisexual #transgender #trans

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