Harlem Renaissance blues singer, pianist, and entertainer Gladys Bentley (1907-1960) openly flouted the gender and sexuality constraints of the 1920s and 30s. The star performer at Harry Hansberry’s Clam House in the 1920s and the Ubangi Club in the early 1930s, she was famous for performing in male drag and singing raunchy songs in a deep, growling voice about her female lovers while flirting with women in the audience. #BlackFriday #LGBTQ #HarlemRenaissance

Queer lawyer and activist Pauli Murray (1910-1985) is widely credited with building the legal frameworks that paved the way for the civil rights and women’s rights movements. Thurgood Marshall hailed Murray’s summary of racism in state law as “the bible” of Brown v. Board of Education. Murray was also instrumental in arguing for the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, which stated discrimination based on sex is unconstitutional. #BlackFriday #LGBTQ #SocialJustice https://wapo.st/3GIdufm

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/18/marielle-franco-brazil-favelas-mourn-death-champion Marielle Franco (1979-2018) was a Brazilian politician, feminist, and human rights activist. A Black lesbian and single mother from the favelas, she was an outspoken critic of police brutality and extrajudicial killings, fought against violence against women, and championed reproductive rights and rights of favela residents. She was assassinated by gunmen connected with the military police, vigilante militias, and the right-wing Bolsonaro family. #BlackFriday #LGBTQ

Bayard Rustin (1912-1987) worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. for decades as a planner of the Montgomery bus boycott and as the primary architect of the 1963 March on Washington. A confidant and adviser, he introduced MLK to Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent resistance. His role in the civil rights movement was largely relegated to the background, however, because he was gay. In the 1980s, he became a public advocate for gay and other human rights. #BlackFriday #LGBTQ

Queen Nzingha Mbande ruled the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba (modern day Angola) beginning in 1624 at the height of Portuguese colonial pressure. She led a fierce, 40-year military resistance against the Portuguese. Mikael Owunna: “Nzinga ruled dressed in full male clothing as a king and had a harem of young men dressed as women who were her wives. You basically had a butch queen with a bunch of drag queens for wives leading a fight against European colonization.” #BlackFriday #LGBTQ

Barbara Jordan (1936-1996), a civil rights leader and attorney, became the first African American elected to the Texas senate in 1966, and the first woman and first African American elected to Congress from Texas in 1972. A tireless champion for minorities and the underrepresented. Although she never explicitly acknowledged her sexual orientation publicly, she was open about her life partner of nearly 30 years, Nancy Earl. #BlackFriday #LGBTQ

STORMÉ DELARVERIE (1920-2014), tireless activist, drag king legend, Stonewall hero. #BlackFriday #LGBTQ