In honor of International Womens Day, here is a thread of women of color, queer women of color and trans women of color who deserve to be celebrated today for their accomplishments:
Up first: Sylvia Rivera who is a Latina trans activist, helped create STAR with Marsha P Johnson. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. She is a pioneer of trans rights!! ❤️
Bisexual Mexican artist Frida Kahlo spoke out about being disabled after a bus accident. Her self-portraits comment on the female form and utilize traditional Mexican themes and colors!
Kara Walker is a Black artist who creates these very powerful silhouettes highlighting race and scenerios of our past in slavery. She creates many other works as well, but those are my personal favorite. I’ve seen them in person!
Katherine Johnson who is represented in the movie “Hidden Figures”, calculated the precise trajectories that would let Apollo 11 land on the moon in 1969. She was a very talented mathematician. In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Malala Yousafzai is a prominent figure in our world. Every day she fights to ensure all girls receive 12 years of free, safe, quality education. She is also the youngest Nobel Prize recipient. Even after the gunman incident, her voice never stayed quiet.
Rosa Parks of course. She was a leader in the local NAACP and the civil rights movement, iconically refused to give up her seat. Her willingness to disobey the rule helped to spark the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation in America.
Marsha P. (“Pay it No Mind”) Johnson was another pioneer in the trans movement. She helped created STAR with Sylvia Rivera. She was a drag queen, sex worker, and while her gender identity remains questioned in discourse, a lot of trans people claim her as one of their own.
Cecilia Chung, an Asian trans woman living with HIV, has spent her life fighting to end discrimination, stigma and violence across marginalized communities first as the former chair of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
Of course Michelle Obama!! She has focused on social issues like education and healthy living. She was deeply committed to the well-being of our nation and to the future of its people, especially its children.
One more: Patsy Takemoto Mink devoted her life to advocating for gender equality and educational reform. She is the first woman of color and the first Asian-American woman elected to the House of Representatives. Title IX owes its existence largely to her efforts. So thank you to all of these amazing, intelligent, passionate, beautiful, inspiring women throughout history who are fucking badass. I just had to shed some appreciation to them for changing the world and resonating with me to continue follow in my great aunt’s activism for people of color.
Happy International Women’s Day to ALL my sisters and I’m with you in solidarity and power!
