Frances Thompson

#FrancesThompson (circa 1840 – 1876): Assigned male at birth, Thompson was born into slavery and raised in Maryland, later traveling with her trafficker, Robert Walker, and his family to Memphis, Tennessee. The Walkers allowed her to dress and be recognized as a woman at a time when such matters were rarely ever mentioned publicly. After most of the Walkers were killed during the Civil War, Thompson remained in Memphis and worked as a laundress as a free Black woman. A year after the War ended, Thompson and her flatmate were eyewitnesses to the Memphis Massacre of 1866, when a mob of largely poor white Irish immigrants (who also made up most of the local police) and a majority Black regiment of federal troops stationed in Memphis to see to it that the promises of Reconstruction were upheld for Black Americans. This ultimately led to the burning of anywhere between 50 and 90 homes, as well as the deaths of 46 Black Memphians and injuries to 75 others. During this turmoil, white men broke into Thompson’s apartment and sexually assaulted both her and her roommate. As a Congressional committee formed to investigate the Memphis Massacre of 1866, Thompson was called to testify, thereby becoming the first Trans person to speak before Congress. Though brave in her actions, this also led to consequences of having been outed as a trans woman when she returned to Memphis. She was arrested in Memphis for “cross-dressing” and sentenced to prison for 100 days, being forced to serve in a men’s prison doing hard labor on a chain gang. Having suffered from cancer of the foot for many years, this proved an even more arduous task, coupled with the rampant physical and sexual assault she endured while serving her sentence. Shortly after her release, she became sick and ultimately died of dysentery in 1876 at the age of thirty-six. #TransLivesMatter #LGBTQIA #PrideMonth #YouCannotEraseUs