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Marsha P. Johnson (August 24, 1945 – July 6, 1992) was an American gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Johnson was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Johnson was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and co-founded the radical activist group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), alongside close friend Sylvia Rivera. Popular in New York's gay community, Johnson was also active in the City's art scene, modeling for Andy Warhol and appearing onstage with the drag performance troupe Hot Peaches. Johnson was known as the "mayor of Christopher Street" for being a welcoming presence in the streets of Greenwich Village. Beginning in 1987, Johnson was an AIDS activist with ACT UP. Johnson's body was found floating in the Hudson River in 1992. While initially ruled a suicide by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), controversy and protest followed the case, resulting in it eventually being re-opened as a possible homicide. Biography Early life Marsha P. Johnson was born Malcolm Michaels Jr. on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to father Malcolm Michaels Sr., an assembly line worker at General Motors, and mother Alberta Claiborne, a housekeeper. She was raised alongside six siblings, and the family attended Mount Teman African Methodist Episcopal Church. Commenting on this upbringing, Johnson said, "I got married to Jesus Christ when I was sixteen years old, still in high school." Johnson first began wearing dresses at the age of five but stopped temporarily due to harassment by boys who lived nearby. In a 1992 interview, Johnson described being the young victim of rape by a thirteen-year-old boy. After this, Johnson described the idea of being gay as "some sort of dream", rather than something that seemed possible, and so chose to remain sexually inactive until leaving for New York City at age 17. Johnson's mother reportedly said that being homosexual was like being "lower than a dog", but Johnson said that she was unaware of the LGBT community. Johnson's mother also encouraged them to find a "billionaire" boyfriend or husband to take care of (Johnson) for life, a goal they often talked about. After graduating from Edison High School (now the Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Academy) in Elizabeth in 1963, Johnson left home for New York with $15 and a bag of clothes. She waited tables after moving to Greenwich Village in 1966. After Johnson began spending time with the street hustlers near the Howard Johnson's restaurant at Sixth Avenue and 8th Street, her life changed. Johnson came out and said, "my life has been built around sex and gay liberation, being a drag queen" and sex work. Performance work and identity Johnson initially used the moniker "Black Marsha", but later decided on the drag queen name "Marsha P. Johnson", getting Johnson from the Howard Johnson's restaurant on 42nd Street, stating that the P stood for "pay it no mind" and used the phrase sarcastically when questioned about gender, saying "it stands for 'pay it no mind'". Johnson said the phrase once to a judge, who was amused by it, leading to Johnson's release. Johnson variably identified as gay, as a transvestite, and as a queen (referring to drag queen or "street queen"). According to Susan Stryker, a professor of human gender and sexuality studies at the University of Arizona, Johnson's gender expression could be called gender non-conforming; Johnson never self-identified with the term transgender, and the term was also not in broad use during Johnson's lifetime. The definitions used by Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were not always the same as those documented in the more mainstream literature of the era. For instance, Rivera insisted on claiming transvestite solely for use by gay people, writing in the essay "Transvestites: Your Half Sisters and Half Brothers of the Revolution", "Transvestites are homosexual men and women who dress in clothes of the opposite sex." In an interview with Allen Young, in Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation, Johnson discussed being a member of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), saying, "A transvestite is still like a boy, very manly looking, a feminine boy." Johnson distinguishes this from transsexual, defining transsexuals as those who are on hormones and getting surgery. Also discussed are Johnson's experiences of the dangers of working as a street prostitute in drag, and the murder of Johnson's husband. Johnson and Rivera's interviews and writings in this era also at times used terminology in ways that were sarcastic and camp, other times serious, or all of the above at once. Johnson's style of drag was not serious ("high drag" or "show drag"), due to being unable to afford to purchase clothing from expensive stores. She received leftover flowers after sleeping under tables used for sorting flowers in Manhattan's Flower District, and was known for wearing crowns of fresh flowers. Johnson was tall, slender and often dressed in flowing robes and shiny dresses, red plastic high heels and bright wigs, which tended to draw attention. As Edmund White wrote in his 1979 Village Voice article "The Politics of Drag", Johnson also liked dressing in ways that would display "the interstice between masculine and feminine". A feature photo of Johnson in this article shows Johnson in a flowing wig and makeup, and a translucent shirt, pants and parka – highlighting the ways that, quoting Kate Millett's Sexual Politics, Johnson is "both masculine and feminine at once — or male, but feminine." There is some existing footage of Johnson doing full, glamorous, "high drag" on stage, but most of her performance work was with groups that were more grassroots, comedic and political. Johnson sang and performed as a member of J. Camicias' New York-based international drag performance troupe, Hot Peaches, from 1972 through to shows in the 1990s. When The Cockettes, a similar drag troupe from San Francisco, formed an East Coast troupe, The Angels of Light, Johnson was also asked to perform with them. In 1973, Johnson performed the role of "The Gypsy Queen" in the Angels' production, "The Enchanted Miracle", about the Comet Kohoutek. In 1975, Johnson was photographed by famed artist Andy Warhol, as part of a "Ladies and Gentlemen" series of Polaroids. In 1990, Johnson performed with Hot Peaches in London. Johnson, who was also HIV positive, became an AIDS activist and appeared in Hot Peaches production The Heat in 1990, singing the song "Love" while wearing an ACT UP, "Silence = Death" button. While the photos of Johnson in dramatic, femme ensembles are the most well-known, there are also photos and film footage of Johnson dressed down in more daily wear of jeans and a flannel shirt and cap, or in shorts and a tank top, and no wig, such as at the Christopher Street Liberation March in 1979, or singing with the New York City Gay M.... Discover the P I Johnson popular books. Find the top 100 most popular P I Johnson books.