How can both joy and trauma provide a blueprint for liberation? In Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson, artist and activist Tourmaline weaves personal narrative, extensive research and interviews to thoughtfully explore the magnetic life and legacy of the Black trans activist, actress and artist, Marsha P. Johnson.
Johnson was born in 1945 to a large working-class family. Although her New Jersey neighborhood was relatively diverse, the surrounding city of Elizabeth was racially segregated, and anti-Black discrimination outlined Johnson’s childhood. Johnson’s family cultivated a supportive environment rooted in love, and their involvement with the Mount Teman African American Methodist Church influenced Johnson’s faith. After graduating from high school, Johnson moved to New York City in 1963.
Free from her hometown’s social constraints, Johnson chased personal discovery on her own terms. Her friendships with LGBTQ+ activists like Sylvia Rivera and artistic collaborators such as Agosto Machado were integral to both her survival as an unhoused sex worker and her leading role in the gay rights movement. On the night of June 28, 1969, Johnson was among the first people to resist NYPD officers during the historic raid at the Stonewall Inn. In the 1970s, Johnson’s activism took on new forms through organizations like Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). She also nurtured her love of the stage, building a decades-spanning body of theater work. When the AIDS crisis hit the nation in the 1980s, Johnson became a caretaker and pillar of emotional support for many friends, even as she navigated her own HIV diagnosis, chronic pain from being shot in the back by a john in 1980, depression and PTSD.
Tourmaline’s focus on Johnson’s life as an artist is a refreshing facet of this biography. For Johnson, art and creative ingenuity informed self-expression, which was a form of public performance and a deeply ingrained commitment to self-preservation and survival in a white patriarchal society. Johnson’s art was the culmination of her entire self, from her signature flower crowns to the handcrafted banners used for STAR events and other Pride-related parades.
By 1992, the year she died, Johnson had witnessed humanity’s contradictions, from the restorative balm of communal connection to the violence of systemic oppression. Too often, Tourmaline writes, multifaceted lives like Johnson’s are simplified, depicted as either “heroism or tragedy.” Johnson’s story is an affirmation of authenticity, showing how art can drive both individual empowerment and collective social change. Through grounding historical context and details as vibrant as Johnson’s colorful style, Tourmaline captures the full scope of Johnson’s contributions to the broader narrative of Black history and the fight for equality. Readers will be deeply moved by Johnson’s empathy, selflessness, bravery and visionary spirit.