Hidden Figures: Stormé DeLarverie #BlackHERstoryMonth​ 15/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Stormé DeLarverie #BlackHERstoryMonth​ 15/28

If you enjoy my work, please consider supporting! CashApp: $SerenSensei Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei Stormé DeLarverie (December 24, 1920 – May 24, 2014) was an American woman known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was, according to Stormé and many eyewitnesses, the spark that ignited the Stonewall riots. She is remembered as a gay civil rights icon and entertainer who performed with the groundbreaking drag show the Jewel Box Revue in the 1950s and ’60s. She also worked for much of her life as a bouncer, bodyguard and volunteer street patrol worker, called the "guardian of lesbians in the Village." She is known as "the Rosa Parks of the gay community." DeLarverie was born in New Orleans on Christmas Eve of 1920. As a child, she faced bullying and harassment, with her father ultimately sending her away to private school for her own safety. She rode jumping horses side saddle with the Ringling Brothers Circus when she was a teenager, but stopped riding after being injured in a fall. She realized she was lesbian near the age of eighteen, leaving New Orleans out of fear that she would be murdered there for her sexuality. She moved to Chicago, where, in the 1940s, she began to sing and perform as as “Stormy Dale” while dressed as a woman. In 1946, while in Miami visiting the Jewel Box Revue, she was offered a job with the famous drag show. Initially hired for six months, her run stretched on 14 years, and from 1955 to 1969 she toured the Black theater circuit as the MC (and only drag king) of the Jewel Box Revue, North America's first racially integrated drag revue. She performed as a baritone in traditionally masculine attire, often wearing tailored suits and sometimes a moustache that made her unidentifiable as a woman to audience members. On June 28, 1969, a scuffle broke out at the Stonewall inn between police and patrons of the notorious bar. A woman fought with police, shouting and swearing, and prompting a crowd of bystanders to rebel against police in an uprising that came to be known as the Stonewall Riots- largely recognized as the start of the contemporary gay liberation movement. According to many witnesses and Storme’ herself, she was the woman fighting with police. DeLarverie remained a noted figure in the LGBT scene of New York, and in the 1980s and 1990s she worked as a bouncer for several lesbian bars in New York City. She was a founding member of the Stonewall Veterans' Association, holding the offices of Chief of Security, Ambassador, and eventually Vice President. For decades Delarverie also served the community as a vigilante, called a ‘lesbian superhero’ and volunteer street patrol worker. She described herself as a “babysitter of my people, all the boys and girls,” and in her obituary in the new York times , she was called the "guardian of lesbians in the Village." DeLarverie suffered from dementia in her later years, and from 2010 until her death in 2014, she lived in a nursing home in Brooklyn. On June 2019, DeLarvarie was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument. It is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history. #HiddenFigures #StorméDeLarverie ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren https://www.shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/theblackamericans https://www.shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/dacs?rq=d.a.c.s Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: Drag Herstory: A Drag King's Journey From Cabaret Legend to Iconic Activist: https://www.them.us/story/drag-king-cabaret-legend-activist-storme-delarverie SOMETHING LIKE A SUPER LESBIAN: STORMÉ DELARVERIE (IN MEMORIAM): https://thekword.com/2014/05/28/something-like-a-super-lesbian-storme-delarverie-in-memoriam/ Stormé DeLarverie: In a Storm of Indifference, She’s Still a Jewel: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/storme-delarverie_b_2909178 Stonewall Veteran, Drag King Icon Stormé DeLarverie Dies At 93: https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/people/2014/05/27/stonewall-veteran-drag-king-icon-stormé-delarverie-dies-93 Remembering Storme DeLarverie: http://gomag.com/article/remembering_stormeacute_d/ Long Live the Legacy of Storme DeLarverie: https://www.vocativ.com/culture/lgbt/long-live-legacy-storme-delarverie/index.html