Part of the ongoing backlash against transgender individuals is rooted in this notion that being transgender is a new phenomenon, which it isn’t.
As long as civilizations have been divided along gender lines, people have been crossing those lines. What is new, relatively speaking, is the flexibility with which people transition. There’s no way to know how many trans people lived their entire lives under the radar. But some transgender Americans did leave their mark in the history books, and I want to talk about some of them. Trans people have always been with us and they always will be.
Of course, the further back in the past you go, the fewer primary sources you come across. We don’t know how all of these individuals perceived themselves; the word “transgender” didn’t even come into use until the 1970s. Some of these Americans left writings and interviews, others are only glimpsed through the narrow window of an article or a court decision. Regardless of terminology, what is clear is that they lived their lives in the gender of their choosing, even when facing societal repercussions for it.
Some became notable for reasons entirely unrelated to their gender identity.
Dr. Alan Hart (1890-1962), assigned female at birth, became a doctor and public health expert. He pioneered the use of X-rays to screen for diseases in people, which allowed illnesses to be caught early and treated. If you’ve ever been screened for TB, you will often test positive on the skin test. The only way to confirm if you have an active infection is an X-ray. I’ve referred some patients for a chest X-ray as a TB precaution, never knowing I was drawing on the work of another member of the LGBTQ+ community. Hart’s personal medical history was also somewhat groundbreaking; he underwent surgery in 1917 and began taking hormones in the 1920s when they became commercially available. He was married twice, and the marriage to his second wife lasted from 1925 until his death.
Then there was Frances Thompson, born in 1840 into slavery and assigned male at birth. She lived as a woman, resulting in many arrests for “cross-dressing”. Thompson testified before a parliamentary committee investigating the Memphis Riots of 1866.
A person named Mary Jones was arrested in 1836 for prostitution and theft (hey, not everyone historical is heroic!) and appears later in a few court records for similar charges, sometimes being referred to as “Beefsteak Pete”, which is neither the best nor the worst nickname I’ve ever heard. At least one newspaper described her as being “rigged out in female apparel of the most fashionable style and cut, and sporting the latest shaped hat”.
There were many instances of women disguising themselves as men to fight in the Civil War. Albert Cashier, born Jennie Hodgers, lived as a man before enlisting in the Union Army in 1862 and lived the rest of his life as a man. On various occasions, friends and medical professionals discovered his assigned sex at birth but chose to keep quiet about it; being kind and respectful was possible in the 19th century. Cashier was briefly investigated for pension fraud but was cleared when fellow soldiers testified that “he” had, in fact, served. In his testimony, former friend Robert Hannah said, “I never suspected anything of that kind. I know that Cashier was the shortest person in the company”.
Charley Parkhurst, born in Vermont in 1812, headed out West to seek his fortune like many young men in that era. He became a successful and fairly well-known stagecoach driver, even after losing an eye to a horse kick (no word on whether the horse’s aggression was motivated by transphobia). This was the era of the Wild West, and as Parkhurst’s New York Times 1880 obituary put it, being a stagecoach driver was “an occupation above all professions calling for the best physical qualities of nerve, courage, coolness, and endurance”. He was known at various points as “Six-Horse Charley”, “Cockeyed Charley”, and “One-Eyed Charlie”. After his death, it was revealed that he had been assigned female at birth.
Back on the East Coast, there was Murray Hall, who was born in Scotland in the 1840s, assigned female, immigrated to America, and became a businessman (emphasis on “man”), as well as a politician in New York’s Tammany Hall at a time when women couldn’t vote or, really, do much of anything. He was married twice and even adopted a daughter, who didn’t know about her dad’s assigned gender until after his death.
Once you start looking for them, it’s astonishing to find how many trans Americans were living, loving, and generally minding their own business throughout our history. Dr. Alan Hart’s own doctor put it perfectly when, writing up the case study notes, he said, “If society will but let her alone, she will fill her niche in the world and leave it better for her bravery”.
Though he didn’t use the correct pronouns, he certainly had the right idea.
