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Marsha
P. Johnson (1945 - July 6, 1992) was an African American transgender
activist and a popular figure in New York City's gay and art
scene from the 1960s to the 1990s.
One of
the city's oldest and best known drag queens, Johnson participated
in clashes with the police amid the Stonewall Riots. She was
a co-founder, along with Sylvia Rivera, of Street Transvestite
Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) in the early 1970s. She also
was the "mother" of S.T.A.R. House along with Sylvia,
getting together food and clothing to help support the young
queens living in the house on the lower East Side of New York.
Once, appearing
in a court the judge asked Marsha, "What does the 'P' stand
for?" Johnson gave her customary response "Pay it
No Mind." This phrase became her trademark. In 1974 Marsha
P. Johnson was photographed by famed artist Andy Warhol, as
part of a "ladies and gentlemen" series of Polaroids
featuring drag queens. An interview with Marsha P. Johnson by
gay activist Allen Young can be found in the book "Out
of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation," originally published
in 1972 and available in a new edition from New York University
Press.
In July
1992, Johnson's body was found floating in the Hudson River
off the West Village Piers shortly after the 1992 Pride March.
Police ruled the death a suicide. Johnson friends and supporters
said she was not suicidal, and a people's postering campaign
later declared that Johnson had earlier been harassed near the
spot where her body was found. Attempts to get the police to
investigate the cause of death were unsuccessful.
Today Johnson's
legacy still survives, and popular New York City art band Antony
and the Johnsons adopted their name from Johnson.
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