(HOBOKEN, NJ) -- Join the Hoboken Historical Museum on Sunday, October 23 at 3:00pm at 1301 Hudson for a special performance event celebrating Marsha P. Johnson, the late drag queen and gay rights activist. Born Malcolm Michaels Jr. in Elizabeth, NJ, Marsha was a living, shining example of 'radical self-expression,' long before Burning Man popularized the phrase. The last 12 years of Johnson’s life were spent in Hoboken living with Randy Wicker in Marine View Plaza. Johnson died in 1992, and has since become a symbol and inspiration within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.

Poet-in-Residence Danny Shot has invited an eclectic, inter-generational group of internationally acclaimed writers and performers, as well as friends, who will each express their own very personal experience of what Johnson's life and legacy means to them. The afternoon features: legendary gay rights activist and Hoboken resident Randy Wicker; international performer and recording artist Linda La; performance poet and photographer, active in the hippest NYC art scenes for decades, Bobby Miller; Lower East Side legendary performance artist and writer Penny Arcade; writer, editor and performer Sanina L. Clark; and friend John Herliker.

It's sure to be a rousing, provocative, bittersweet and uplifting afternoon, unlike anything that Hoboken has seen for a long time. Admission is free, and refreshments will be served. **Be advised, this program contains material which may not be suitable for children.** For more information, click here to see the event's full listing on our website. The celebration will also be livestreamed on the Museum's YouTube channel.

The Hoboken Historical Museum is thrilled that acclaimed photographer Gun Roze has granted us permission to use one of his photographs of Johnson for this event. Signed 5″X7″ and 8″X10″ prints of MARSHA P JOHNSON, taken on Christopher Street in 1982 by photographer Gun Roze, are available for purchase. 5X7 ($75 US) and 8X10 ($130 US), both prices include shipping within North America. All proceeds will benefit the The Marsha P Johnson Family Foundation. Larger size prints are available as well.  Please email Gun to make your purchase- gunroze@gmail.com

Marsha P. Johnson was an African-American gay activist and an outspoken advocate for trans people of color. Johnson spearheaded the stonewall uprising in 1969 and, along with Sylvia Rivera, later established S.T.A.R., the Street Transvestite (now Transgender) Action Revolutionaries, a group committed to helping homeless transgender youth in New York City. On July 6, 1992 at the age of 46, Johnson was found dead in the Hudson River. Marsha P. Johnson’s life has been celebrated in numerous books, documentaries and films.

Longtime Hoboken resident and legendary gay rights activist Randy Wicker began working for gay rights as a student in Austin, Texas in the mid ’50’s. After graduating, he moved to New York City. In 1962, after hearing a broadcast on radio station WBAI where psychiatrists discussed the sickness of homosexuality, Randy demanded and was given equal air time. He also informed Newsweek, Variety and The New York Times of this upcoming program. He and seven other gay men spoke about what it was like to be gay. The show was met with a range of responses, including a challenge to WBAI’s FCC license to broadcast. The FCC ruled the show an exercise in free speech, making homosexuality a legitimate topic for broadcasting. In 1964, Randy famously led the first public gay protest at the New York City U.S. Army Induction Center after the confidentiality of a gay man’s draft records was violated. These are merely two example of his numerous, legendary ground-breaking contributions to the movement over a 60+ year span of time.

Wicker met pioneering activist Marsha P. Johnson in 1973 when he was working as a reporter for the LGBT journal “The Advocate.” They became roommates around 1980 and were close until Johnson’s untimely death in 1992, the details of which remain unresolved. Since 2009, Wicker has been documenting and participating in the Radical Faerie communities in Tennessee and New York.

Linda La is an international, multidisciplinary SAG-AFTRA performer, recording artist, writer, teacher, curator, host, and model from the Boogie Down Bronx, New York. Her work infuses elements of music and movement with spoken word and experimental theater, using art as resistance. Born out of the NYC Mainstream/Kiki Vogue Ballroom Scene, her experimental sound has been articled in both AFROPUNK and The Fader. Last year, she made her television film debut in the role of Swan on the finale of the hit series POSE on FX. Currently she resides on Munsee-Lenape land, finalizing her first studio recording project set to include original music and poetry. Her work can be found on all streaming platforms and archived at the Brooklyn Museum in the “Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall” exhibit. Find out more at Lindala.world. Feel free to tip or donate via Cashapp or Venmo @LindaLaFM. 

Born in Washington DC in 1952  Bobby Miller is a performance poet, writer, actor and photographer. The author of four books of poetry he is included in “Aloud: Voices From The Nuyorican Poets Cafe” , “Verses That Hurt; Pleasure And Pain From The Poemfone Poets, and “ The Outlaw Bible Of American Poetry” & “The Outlaw Bible of American Artists”. He has published  23 books. As a spoken word artist he has collaborated with recording artist DJ Dymetry of Dee-Lite, and on Epic Records CD Home Alive with Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Joan Jett, and others. His work has been exhibited in NYC, Hudson NY, Palm Springs and Provincetown. He studied photography with Lisette Model at The New School. He has performed at Lincoln Center, The Whitney Museum, The Smithsonian Institute, New York University, The Rhode Island School of Design, Bennington College, The Massachusetts State Poetry Festival, The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The CMJ Music Festivals, Jackie 60, and The Downtown Arts Festivals. He competed in The  National Poetry Slam as a member of The Nuyorican Poets and has performed internationally with poet John Giorno. He curated and hosted Verbal Abuse, a spoken word evening at Mother Nightclub in NYC. He makes his home in Great Barrington, Ma. 

Penny Arcade (a.k.a. Susana Ventura) is a performance artist, writer, poet, and experimental theater maker. Penny debuted in 1968 at age 18 with New York’s Play-House of the Ridiculous and became a Warhol Superstar at 19 featured in the 1972 Warhol/Morrissey comedy, “Women in Revolt.”  Known for her  highly-quotable writing, compassionate yet unflinching honesty, and focus on community-building as the goal of performance and on performance as a transformative act, Penny Arcade has influenced generations of artists all over the world, making her an icon of artistic resistance. She is the author of over 16 full-length works and hundreds of solo performance pieces. Since 1999 with longtime collaborator Steve Zehentner she has co-helmed the oral history video project “Stemming The Tide Of Cultural Amnesia” The Lower East Side Biography Project where she interviews highly self-individuated people then edits herself out to create a one on one experience for the general public. She is currently writing her much anticipated memoir. You can find her at www.pennyarcade.tv.

Sanina L. Clark is the editor of Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve (longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature) and All City by Alex DiFrancesco (2020 Ohioana Book Awards Finalist in Fiction). Though they have worked on various kinds of books, they prioritize acquiring texts written by or about people who are queer, trans, women, or POC. They have worked with authors like Chavisa Woods, Khary Lazarre-White, and Luis J. Rodriguez. They are currently an instructor at Writopia Lab, a contributing writer for Publishers Weekly, and the editor of the Black Dawn Series under AK Press, a speculative novella series launching Fall 2021. Their bookcase is filled with YA, fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, horror, plays and queer literature. Clark is also involved in performance art and cosplay and can often be found purchasing large quantities of fake blood and tulle. They’re addicted to ramen, cat photos, tea, and Doctor Who paraphernalia. A perfect day to Clark involves lots of green tea while relaxing with a good book or anime and cuddling their cat. They really love cats.