Jun 9, 2023 · Forging a place for himself in the city’s queer Black community, Swann held parties that Joseph deems the first documented “drag balls” in American history.

Swann is known as the first drag queen. As a black gay man, Swann paved the way for future drag queens and gay men of color. His legal efforts sparked a conversation about the LGBTQ+ community and may have even been one of the first instances of LGBTQ+ activism in …

Dec 15, 2018 · It was through vaudeville that the first official well-known drag queen came to exist, named Julian Eltinge. His popularity moved beyond vaudeville and his success earned him the title of being the highest paid actor in the world — …

The first person known to describe himself as "the queen of drag" was William Dorsey Swann, born enslaved in Hancock, Maryland, who in the 1880s started hosting drag balls in Washington, DC attended by other men who were formerly enslaved.

Jun 26, 2024 · In 1992, Joan Jett Blakk became the first drag queen to run for president of the United States. Though she entered the race on the Queer Nation Party ticket, Blakk made a memorable appearance...

Jun 22, 2021 · William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved African-American, is the earliest-documented person to describe themselves as a ‘queen’ of a ‘drag’ – or ‘drag queen’. In 19th-century Washington DC, Swann began hosting cross-dressing events that he and his male guests referred to as ‘drags’.

Jan 31, 2020 · But beginning in the 1880s, he not only became the first American activist to lead a queer resistance group; he also became, in the same decade, the first known person to dub himself a “queen...

Born into slavery, Swann was the first known person to identify as a “Queen of Drag” and the first known American activist to lead a queer resistance group.

Feb 9, 2022 · Newly liberated and gay, Swann used his freedom to lead a queer resistance group — and become the first drag queen in America. Swann not only became the first person in the United States to self-identify as a “queen of drag,” but …

Apr 8, 2024 · Born into slavery, William Dorsey Swann became the first American to lead a queer resistance group, first to self-identify as a “queen of drag,” and first to use the U.S. legal system to defend the queer community.