Through Jeroslyn Jovonn
October 15, 2025
The legendary transgender activist died at home on October 13, surrounded by family and loved ones.
Revolutionary transgender rights activist and author Miss Major Griffin-Gracy died on Monday, October 13. She was 78.
A post shared on her Instagram account announced that Griffin-Gracy, who took part in the historic Stonewall Uprising, died peacefully at home in Little Rock, Arkansas, surrounded by loved ones.
“Her lasting legacy is a testament to her resilience, activism and dedication to creating safe spaces for Black trans communities and all trans people – we are forever grateful for Miss Major’s life, her contributions and how deeply she poured herself into those she loved,” the post said.
Affectionately known as “Mama” and considered As a surrogate for the trans community, Griffin-Gracy has spent more than fifty years advocating for Black trans women, gender non-conforming people, and trans women affected by incarceration, police brutality, and the AIDS crisis. She founded the House of GG (The Griffin-Gracy Educational and Historical Center) to provide safe spaces for people experiencing transphobia, racism, sexism, poverty, disability and violence.
As the first Executive Director of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, Griffin-Gracy provided critical support to transgender, gender variant, and intersex individuals in prison. Her work has included visiting incarcerated transgender people in California to connect them with legal and social services, and speaking before the California State Assembly and the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva about human rights abuses in prisons.
The Chicago native remained steadfast in her advocacy for the trans community well into her later years, using motorized scooters and wheelchairs to travel across the country and speak out against the growing wave of anti-trans legislation. She met with young LGBTQ+ people at local gay bars during the 2024 Democratic National Convention while campaigning for former Vice President Kamala Harris, and during her third visit to the White House in 2023, urging them to take action.
“We have to stand up and fight,” she told a crowd. “Don’t be complacent now. Don’t step back and stand in the shadows… you have to do it. You have to do it because I can’t do it alone. And I decided to come by and let you know that you have to get up and move on. We can’t afford not to move.”
In May 2023, she published her memoir, Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary, a collection of reflections, including her participation in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and her mentorship under Frank “Big Black” Smith, a leader of the 1971 Attica prison uprising. The book also chronicles her decades of activism and community organizing.
“There will never be enough words to fully describe the impact Miss Major had on LGBTQ+ people, on leaders in various movements, on those she loved and who were touched by her work and her words,” Kierra Johnson, chair of the National LGBTQ Task Force. said in the statement, according to CNN. “She was a revolutionary, a visionary, a legend – a foundational mother of our movement and an inspiration to those who fought for liberation. She was a sharp and unyielding truth-teller.”
Griffin-Gracy is survived by her longtime partner, Beck Witt Major, and their child, Asiah Wittenstein Major, born in 2021. Throughout her life, she also raised other children through adoption and past relationships, including her son Christopher, born in 1978 to Deborah Brown. The legendary activist is also survived by Janetta Johnson, her successor at the Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center, as well as her sisters, Tracie O’Brien and Billie Cooper.
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