“MAJOR!: The Documentary”

The cover of “Major!: The Documentary” by Annalise Ophelian, via Facebook.

Major! (2015) is a documentary by Annalise Ophelian the details the life and legacy of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a trans activist who especially fights for the rights of transgender people targeted by the prison system and police brutality.

Watch Major! on Amazon Prime or Vimeo.

Major Griffin-Gracy, warmly known as Miss Major, was born in 1940 on the South Side of Chicago (S&F Online). Miss Major began her transition early. She came out to her parents as a teenager in the 1950s, before the term “transgender” had truly entered the national lexicon (Oxford). As a youth, her parents tried to use psychiatrists and church programs to push her into aligning with the gender she was assigned at birth, but she was able to find refuge in trans and drag communities of color in the 1950s (Oxford).

Miss Major was involved with the Stonewall Riots of 1969, along with other trans icons of color such as Martha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera (them). This marked some of the early beginnings of a life ultimately dedicated to justice for non-gender-conforming individuals.

A significant facet of Miss Major’s activism revolves around the brutality and injustices afflicted on trans women of color by the prison system. Miss Major was imprisoned several times throughout the 1970s, including inside Attica State Prison (Major). Many trans and gender-nonconforming individuals can be at a higher risk for imprisonment due to having to turn to “street economics,” such as sex work, due to systematically being kept out of the legal economy (Major Film).

Major’s activism has remained strong throughout the 21st century. In 2005, she started working with the Trans-Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, eventually becoming their executive director before retiring (TGIP). TJI Justice focuses on the rights of trans, gender variant, and intersex individuals inside the prison system and who have been released from the system.

Aside from recounting the past and present legacy of Major’s work, this documentary also spotlights the beautiful trans family that Major has created and continues to support with not only activism but also love. Many of Major’s family detailed how she had loved and supported them.

Reflection Questions

• How can the lessons of transgender activists and organizers of the 1950s and 1960s help fight for transgender rights today?
• How can we bring to light the sacrifices that the untold trans activists of previous years helped set the foundation for the current trans movement?
• The documentary recounts how many trans women get arrested for participating in economic activities such as survival sex work. How can we better center the trans women in ongoing talks about the prison industrial complex?

Learn More

• Article: Them’s Transvisionaries: How Miss Major Helped Spark the Modern Trans Movement
• Article: Teen Vogue’s Miss Major Griffin-Gracy Is Still Here and Wants Young Activists to “Keep on Fighting”