Please See The Essay “To Name My Story”
This is the secondary source for the contest.
A.C. Glenn spoke at Denver's Stonewall Moment called the Denver Gay Revolt on October 23rd, 1973 in which 300 LGBTQ activists met with the Denver City Council to fight police harassment. They were the only African American speaker, dressed in women's clothing (which was illegal), and were true to themselves. Glenn spoke about wearing women's clothes and noted "I dress as I please, no body don't buy my clothes for me, I buy my own." See the video at 1:00:00 hour in the link below (Photo via Jerry Gerash, video via History Colorado and Aaron Marcus)
Buffalo Soldiers were black members of the US Army; namely the 9th, 10th, 24th, 25th, and 38th Cavalry. They were stationed to protect trading posts, settlers, forts, and trains from Indigenous raiders. They were also some of the first care takers of the national parks. In Colorado, they were stationed at the across the state at places like Fort Garland in the San Luis Valley. Historian Terry Mangan noted medical doctors who were concerned about same-sex activity. The slept in close wooden bunks with four men sleeping in one bed, diseases and medical conditions affected the soldiers, and they were hundreds of miles from women. While the story of the Buffalo Soldiers is complicated, and riddled with controversy, they were some of the first African Americans in Colorado and their legacy of family, comradeship, and pioneers of Colorado are carried on today.
(Right) John C. H. Grabill in Sturgis, Dakota Territory, circa 1886 in a Buffalo coat, sourced from the National Museum of African American Heritage and Culture. . (Left) Soldiers of the 25th Infantry in Yosemite National Park (from History Colorado) see resource page.
Cathy Williams is credited with being the first female Buffalo Soldier. Her story was discovered in the 1990s and researchers from all over added files. The story appeared that she may have been the first and only known woman to dress as a man, become a Buffalo Soldier, and then came to Colorado. The first book about her was in 2002 by Historian William Thomas Tucker Cathy Williams: From Slave to Buffalo Soldier.
Yet, what if her story was more complicated? In 2022 we came across a source from the Colorado Weekly Chieftain that said that Williams had been a man who dressed as a woman their whole lives. Much work remains to be done on her story, but research, debate, and interpretation are apart of the historical process. Can your artwork help show a black transgender person in history or inspire others to learn how to find transgender people in history?
The photograph on the left was sourced from Findagrave.com (see resource page), other depictions of Cathy Williams art artwork created by her story (c. 2000 onward). The header for the controversial article from the Colorado Weekly Chieftain is on the right (April 29th, 1897).
Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman to win an Oscar for her supporting role in Gone With the Wind (1939). Yet she spent much of her childhood in Colorado. Hattie was also am informal member of the Sewing Circle an informal group of women loving women actresses in Hollywood. While she was married four times, she maintained close relationships with actresses like Tallulah Bankhead who lesbian or bisexual. Yet, what was the world like for her in Colorado? Did she know LGBTQ people growing up at East High in 1910? Did she feel the same way? Her story paints a picture of black LGBTQ history in Colorado at the turn of the 20th century.
(Hattie with a hat) This is a photograph of Hattie at the age of 15, about when she went to East High School. The other photo is McDaniel’s studio photo (c. 1930 - 1940).
Wendell Sayers was adopted into a family in Kansas in the early 20th century. As he grew up he realized he was different, when he told his parents they took him to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. On the way they experienced racism, and when they returned his father accepted him for being gay. As Wendell grew up he became a lawyer, moved to Denver, was the first African American to work in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, and became an unspoken hero for a gay group in Denver in 1959. His oral history in 1987 with historian Eric Marcus is one of the only known of an LGBTQ black person who lived during that time. We found out a lot more about Wendell Sayers in 2024/2025 than previous years. He had family in Denver, he was well loved, and a well known attorney. His social life as a young, gay, black man reveals a little more about black LGBTQ history in Denver. How can we show these experiences through art?
This is a photograph of Wendell Sayers (via Making Gay History Podcast) from his college years in the 1920s in Kansas. The others are articles from the Colorado Statesmen (a black newspaper in Colorado). They note his car, the Y.M.C.A., and his social life in Denver. (Check out the other sources on the resource page including the original podcast).
Lady Diana was a very popular, black, female impersonator. Born Phil Hart, he began his career in 1969, the same year as the Stonewall Riots in New York. Hart did not win his first pageant, but was persistent, he went to pageants all over the South. Like many female impersonators he was arrested for cross-dressing. Yet, he came to Denver in 1974 and his career grew and the community grew around him. He was among a long tradition of entertainers dating back to William Dorsey Swann. He noted entertainment “really makes me feel like a star. On stage you feel like you’re the greatest thing, but you can get carried away with it. You have to stop and think about who you really are.” What traditions are carried on within Drag today? What was life like from 1960 to 2000 for many of these performers? What were the black, LGBTQ spaces in Denver? How did diversity filter in over time?
Lady Diana is holding the microphone in the photograph while Stephanie McCall is in the boa. After 1974 it was unlikely they would be arrested for doing drag or cross-dressing, but before then it was often illegal for people to wear clothes of different genders. Yet, for black, entertainers Drag and gender illusion created community, though many of the owners of the theaters, institutions, and bars where they performed were white. This created color barrier in Colorado unlike in other parts of the country. Yet, there is a much longer heritage of black entertainers in Denver. (Check out the history in the resources page)
Storme Delaverie often presented her gender in a transmasculine way. She was born in Louisiana, settled in New York, and toured with the Jewel Box Review (one of the longest running drag troupes in US history). She came through Denver in the 1950s several times, alongside other LGBTQ figures like Billy Holiday in Five Points who were open about their sexuality. Yet, the world for transmasculine and gender non-conforming people was very different. For women loving women, and transmasculine people, there is a little known heritage from the 1950s following “fem” and “butch” culture. Yet, Storme’s work helped create safe space for trans people and women loving women. Eventually people who would identify as transmen could seek support in places like the Gender Identity Center. The representations of gender non-conforming, black, women loving women date as far back as the African Diaspora itself, they include examples like the Mati culture of Suriname, Gladys Bentley, or Pauli Murray. Yet, how did those spaces emerge in Denver? What were the safe places and spaces for gender non-conforming people and transmasculine people in the city?
There are many centuries of stories of transfeminine people from Africa, to the African Diaspora, and into US history. From Vitoria in 1556 in Portugal who was from Ghana and dressed as a woman to Jackie Shane and Marsha P. Johnson who were central to their communities. Laws and governments were often harsh to gender non-conforming people and performed genocides and erased countless stories to justify their power. Violence and fear uphold oppression. Yet there are many acts of resistance. AC Glenn spoke with the Gay Coalition of Denver and the Transsexual, Gay, Lesbian Defense Coalition marched in protest over the killing of people like Tracy Levi. Yet there are commonalities in their stories. There are continuities of place, embodiment, and resilience in their stories. There are similarities in the way each person was treated by society and created their own lives. There are mysteries and inaccuracies which can only be worked out by comparison. There are lessons about telling the story to fight ignorance and oppression. Yet what images and stories can we draw from their comparison which can help us name transfeminine people and share their stories for generations to come?
