Introducing 'Afterlives: Marsha P. Johnson'

Marsha P. Johnson is THE icon of the LGBTQ+ movement and a mother of the fight for trans rights. Today, you can buy T-shirts emblazoned with her face or walk through a park named in her honor. Now, hear from Marsha in her own words on a new limited series, Afterlives: Marsha P. Johnson. 

Host Raquel Willis brings Marsha’s story to life through rare archival interviews and intimate conversations with queer elders, friends, and historians. Legend says she threw the first brick at the Stonewall riots, setting off the modern movement for queer rights. Immortalized by Andy Warhol and known as “The Saint of Christopher Street,” Marsha was also unhoused, surviving through sex work, navigating violence, and resisting with joy.

More than 30 years after her still-unsolved death in the Hudson River, Marsha’s voice resounds louder than ever. As trans rights face renewed threats, Afterlives celebrates Marsha’s story and reflects on her enduring power as a trans ancestor.

Listen to Afterlives wherever you get your podcasts. All episodes are out now!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
You've heard the name Marcia P. Johnson. She's one of
the mothers of the trans rights movement and one of
the world's most legendary drag queens. Marsha's become big business.
It's amazing the cover of Time magazine one hundred Most
Important People in the Century. Today you can buy Marsha P.

(00:33):
Johnson's t shirts or walk in a park named after her.
But who was Marshall? Really? She's strutting up there waving
to the policeman in the cars, and then you could
get arrested. But pay it no mind. I'm a woman,
a real woman. She's been called a saint, immortalized by

(00:56):
Andy Warhol mythologized as the one who threw the first
brick at Stonewall. But Marcia was also unhoused. She did
survival sex work and endured violence. In nineteen ninety two,
her body was found in the Hudson River. Her death
remains unsolved. Marcia was pulled out of the water right

(01:20):
over the edge. Here. This is Afterlives, a podcast about
trans lives we've lost and the ways they've reshaped our world.
I'm your host, Raquel Willis. This season, I reckon with
what it means to honor Marcia as a trans ancestor.
Who we know about Marcia, don't we and hear about

(01:42):
who she was in her own words? Did call me
ad in my own time? Because there's so many queens,
God that I'm one of the few queens is still
net from the seventies and the sixties. Over eight episodes,
we go beyond the myth making to meet the woman
who lived large, laughed, fought, and fed others with her

(02:06):
last dollar. She was the greeter, Hello Dolls, Hello dolling,
is so wonderful day. We bring you to the front
lines of historic queer resistance and separate the facts from
the lore. Started banging on the door of the stone
Wall like one boom, boom boom. Was one of the
most nuberating things that I have ever done. We all

(02:30):
had a brick in her hand. Yes, Marsha was at Stonewall,
but activism was also her way of life. I've reached
my hand out to younger people in the gay community.
It just didn't have nobody that helped map at a
time when trans people are under attack and the T

(02:50):
is being erased from LGBTQ. Plus sharing her true story,
it's more urgent than ever. Turning down our beauty, our
magic doesn't make a world safer for us. It's actually
the opposite. Listen to Afterlives Marsha P. Johnson starting on

(03:11):
June tenth on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts. You're gonna be gagging. Just get
your heart ready for heart failure.