Miss Major Griffin-Gracy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
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Miss Major at San Francisco Pride in 2014
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| Born | October 25, 1946 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
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| Occupation | Activist and author |
| Organization | Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project |
| Known for | Transgender rights activism |
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Notable work
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Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary |
| Children | 5 |
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (born October 25, 1946), known as Miss Major, is an American author and activist. She works to support transgender rights and communities.
She was the first leader of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project. This group helps transgender, gender variant, and intersex people, especially those who are in prison.
Miss Major has shared her life story in books like Captive Genders and The Stonewall Reader. Her own book, Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary, came out in 2023.
Contents
Her Early Life and Activism
Growing Up in Chicago
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was born in Chicago in the 1940s. She grew up on the South Side of the city. Her father worked for the post office, and her mother ran a beauty shop.
When she was about 12 or 13, she shared her gender identity with her parents. They responded by taking her to church and to see a doctor.
In the late 1950s, Miss Major came out as trans in Chicago. She remembers drag balls as places where people could be themselves. She said, "We didn't know at the time that we were questioning our gender. We just knew it felt right."
She also learned about Christine Jorgensen, who was famous in the 1950s for having gender-affirming surgery. Miss Major learned how to get hormones outside of official medical channels in Chicago.
Miss Major was asked to leave college because she wore feminine clothes. She also lost her home with her parents because they did not accept her gender. She worked as a showgirl in Chicago and New York. She added "Griffin" to her name to honor her mother. After a difficult time in Chicago, she moved to New York.
Life in New York
After moving to New York City, Miss Major found the Stonewall Inn was a welcoming place. In 2014, she said it "provided us transwomen with a nice place for social connection." Many other gay bars did not let trans women in at that time.
She was a regular visitor at the Stonewall Inn. She was there on the first night of the 1969 Stonewall rebellion. This event was a turning point for LGBTQ+ rights.
Miss Major also spent time in prison. She met Frank "Big Black" Smith, a leader of the Attica Correctional Facility riots of 1971. She says he taught her about African-American history, politics, and organizing. He also taught her about the prison industrial complex, which is how prisons and related businesses affect society. She was released from prison around 1974.
For over twenty years, Miss Major faced challenges like not having a stable home. She also found hormones outside of official medical channels during this time.
Working for Change in California
In 1978, Miss Major moved to San Diego and started working in community services. She helped at a food bank and then directly supported trans women. Her work grew to include home health care during the AIDS epidemic in the United States.
In the 1990s, Miss Major moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. She worked with several groups that helped people with HIV/AIDS.
In 2004, Miss Major joined the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP). She soon became the executive director. This organization helps transgender, gender variant, and intersex people who are in prison.
Her work included visiting trans women and men in California prisons. She helped them get legal and social services. She also spoke to the California State Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva. She talked about human rights issues in prisons.
Miss Major has spoken about feeling left out of the larger LGBT movement. She felt this was especially true for transgender people who were low-income, people of color, or had criminal records.
In 2013, she helped change the words on a plaque honoring the Stonewall rebellion. She wanted "inclusive language to honor the sacrifice we as trans women displayed." In 2014, she was honored at the San Francisco Pride Parade. She said, "We're finally getting some recognition. I'm proud it finally happened and I'm alive to see it."
Building a Retreat in Arkansas
Miss Major moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, after a documentary about her was shown there in 2015. She created a property she called the House of GG. It became a welcoming retreat center for trans people.
The property has a guest house, a pool, a hot tub, a merry-go-round, and many gardens. It also has over 80 palm trees.
Films About Miss Major
A documentary called Major! came out in 2015. It shows Miss Major's important role as an activist and mentor in the transgender community since the 1960s.
She was also featured in the 2016 film Personal Things, made by Tourmaline. Miss Major is also an executive producer for the 2021 docu-series Trans in Trumpland.
Her Book: Miss Major Speaks
In May 2023, Verso Books published Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary. This book is a memoir based on interviews with Miss Major. Journalist Toshio Meronek, her former assistant, wrote the book.
In the memoir, Miss Major talks about her early life and education. She shares her memories of the 1969 Stonewall rebellion. She also discusses her time in prison and meeting Frank "Big Black" Smith. The book covers her many years of activism and community organizing. This includes her work during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. She also writes about her time leading the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP).
Reviewers have praised the book. Haley McEwen wrote that listening to Miss Major speak helps to "subvert systems that have worked to erase and silence Black transgender women." Vic Parsons said that Miss Major has been "a crucial source of hope and support to many trans people."
Miss Major Speaks was nominated for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction.
Awards and Recognition
- 2013 Social Justice Sabbatical Award, Vanguard Public Foundation
- 2014 Bobbie Jean Baker Memorial Award, Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center
- 2014 San Francisco Pride Parade, community grand marshal
- 2019 Acey Social Justice Award, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
- Women of the Year 2021, The Advocate
Family Life
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy has five sons. Her eldest son was born in 1978, and she later adopted three more sons. In January 2021, Miss Major and her partner welcomed another son.
See also
In Spanish: Miss Major Griffin-Gracy para niños
- Stormé DeLarverie
- Marsha P. Johnson
- Sylvia Rivera
- Frank 'Big' Black Smith
- Ceyenne Doroshow
- CeCe McDonald
