Chicago, Illinois 78 yrs (October 25, 1946 – October 13, 2025)

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy , often referred to as Miss Major, was an author, activist, and Trans rights icon. She actively participated in activism and community organizing for various causes. She became the first executive director of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project. Griffin-Gracy publicly came out as trans in Chicago during the late 1950s. She cited Christine Jorgensen, known for her gender-affirming surgery in the 1950s, as a significant influence. Griffin-Gracy contributed to oral history collections. These include works like Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex. Other titles are The Stonewall Reader. Additionally, The Stonewall Generation: LGBT Elders on Sex, Activism, and Aging is included. Her memoir, Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary, was released by Verso Books in 2023. When asked how she would summarize her life, she responded, “She came, she saw, she cared!”