THE STORY OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON
The life and legacy of Marsha P. Johnson are at the heart of AFTERLIVES, a show that honors trans people and the stories that have reshaped our world.
Marsha P. Johnson remains an enduring cultural icon, with her imagery showcased on t-shirts and parks named in her honor. Legend has it that Marsha threw the first brick at the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, igniting the modern struggle for queer rights. Immortalized by Andy Warhol and beloved as “The Saint of Christopher Street,” Marsha’s journey was marked by resilience as she navigated homelessness, sex work and the violence of her time, all while embracing joy and defiance.
More than three decades after her unsolved death in the Hudson River, Marsha’s voice still resonates louder than ever. As trans rights face renewed threats in our current political climate, Afterlives will celebrate Marsha’s story and reflect on her enduring legacy as a trans leader and model for courage and resistance.
AFTERLIVES Season 2 is the story of Marsha’s life and the fight that continues in her name today.
OUR HOST
AFTERLIVES is hosted by noted journalist and activist Raquel Willis. The series is an adaptation of her award-winning work on Out magazine’s Trans Obituaries Project,.
Learn more about her here.
EPISODE ONE
EPISODE ONE
The Saint of Christopher Street
Watching Marsha P. Johnson get ready for a date feels like spying on a long lost auntie. On some level, that’s exactly who Marsha is as a mother in the fight for trans rights. But in her grainy home videos, she’s not a living legend. She’s just a human. Our debut episode cuts through myths and mysteries to uncover the complicated contradictions that made up Marsha’s life.
Host Raquel Willis explores her own relationship with LGBTQ+ history and ancestors like Marsha, while friends of Marsha along with historians shed light on her story. We’re lucky that Marsha spoke for herself too and we’ll get to know her in her own words.
Check out the photos we mention on our Instagram @afterlives.pod
EPISODE TWO
EPISODE TWO
From Elizabeth to Times Square
A trip to Elizabeth, New Jersey, brings us into the heart of Marsha’s upbringing. We sit down with her sister, Jeannie, and her nephew, Al, to get a picture of Marsha’s childhood home and hear stories about the early ways Marsha dared to be different. We also learn about her hometown’s queer underground and the ways Marsha navigated her identity from an early age.
By the time she graduated from high school, she had her sights set on New York City. She headed to Times Square in a time before the billboards and mascots, and the M&M store. Instead, she was strutting the streets where sex was bought and sold, finding community, and forming big dreams.
EPISODE THREE
EPISODE THREE
Who Threw the First Brick at Stonewall?
There’s no moment in queer history more celebrated than the Stonewall Riots, which set off the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. There’s also no event that’s more hotly debated. To separate the truth from the myth, we first step onto the streets of Greenwich Village, a mecca of queer culture in the 60s.
By all accounts The Stonewall Inn at the heart of the Village was a dump, but it was also the only place queer people could dance, making it an instant favorite among neighborhood hangouts. But how did one Saturday night at the bar change the course of history? And what was Marsha’s role in how it all jumped off? But wait, before you fast forward to Pride today and fade to the credits, we take a closer look at the organizing that followed the riots and the ways it excluded the very people who were on the front lines, people like Marsha.