A review by warlocksarecool21
Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy

emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

5.0

Miss Major Speaks is an incredible collection of interviews with Miss Major, a renowned and beloved Black trans activist since the 60s and 70s. I don’t usually say this about nonfiction, but I had so much fun reading this. Each chapter felt like you were there talking to Miss Major yourself. Her humor, passion and care was so obvious in every word she said, and in this short book I feel like I learned so much from her. It really highlights the importance of listening the elders of the trans/queer community, they’ve lived through so many things and have so much wisdom to impart with us, and so much of our history and movement would be lost without them. This book also highlights the necessity of community care and grassroots organizing to ensure any sort of progress, because the government and corporations won’t do anything. I think the most important theme of this book is the reminder that white queer people (especially if they’re cis) often need to take a step back in the movement and listen and uplift the most marginalized of our community, which are Black trans women. They were the ones at the center of it all at the time of Stonewall and the AIDS crisis yet they get left behind by the rest of the movement. Miss Major has so many significant things to say about how Black trans people not only have to experience transphobia, but also poverty, anti-Blackness and police brutality. She makes the point that our mobilization has to include the most marginalized, that their issues must be all of our issues. Our collective liberation will come from ending oppression of marginalized people everywhere in the world, not just in the US. These are just a few of the themes and messages present in this book, alongside many stories and anecdotes about Miss Major’s life. 
Through her humor and warm personality, Miss Major imparts so many lessons she’s learned over the course of her life and I highly recommend picking this up. 
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