Black Trans Empowerment Week: MAJOR! Documentary Screening

MAJOR! explores the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcerated Black transgender elder and activist who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years.

Miss Major is a veteran of the Stonewall Rebellion and a survivor of Attica State Prison, a former sex worker, an elder, a community leader, and a human rights activist. She is simply “Mama” to many in her community. Her personal story and activism for transgender civil rights intersects LGBT struggles for justice and equality from the 1960s to today. At the center of her activism is her fierce advocacy for her girls, trans women of color who have survived police brutality and incarceration in men’s jails and prisons.

This event is part of Black Trans Empowerment Week. This year, in an effort to change the tone of the annual observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance, Houston-based organizations Mahogany Project and Save Our Sisters United have coordinated Black Trans Empowerment Week, not only to memorialize those who have been tragically lost, but to charge forward into the empowered future they envision for all transgender people. Each event is an opportunity to uplift, empower, and remember the lives of those still with us as well as those who are gone.