Using recent breakthroughs in photo editing techniques, Eli colorizes, restores, and digitizes photos from queer and trans history. The following images are originally from 1897-1982.
After noticing how much more responsive audiences are to color photos, Eli decided to share these amazing moments from queer and trans history. During a time when politicians can openly argue trans people did not exist until 2015, it is important to use reminders like these that we have always been here.
Disclaimer: the following page is an attempt to focus more on historic trans people of color than past galleries have. However, during the black-and-white era, the wealthiest individuals had the most access to cameras. This led to an over-representation of white subjects from the Global North. Colorization is meant to help undo some of this photographic bias. With color, it is easier to recognize the many people of color involved in our movements, who are often quite literally erased in black-and-white photography.
It is also important to understand that the colorization process is never 100% accurate. Some colors are mistaken for others, particularly in older photos of lower quality. These photos were not edited outside colorization (tone, shade, and hue), enhancement (increased pixels and decreased grain), and restoration (digitally filling in small cracks, tears, etc with similar content). Colorization takes careful consideration of ethics and historicity, making sure not to rewrite the past.
If you have rare photos you think should be colorized, get in touch with Eli using the Contact page.
None of the photos below are copyrighted. The colorized photos are Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 / CC-BY 4.0 licensed (free to use and modify with attribution, even for commercial purposes). You do not need to contact Eli for permission to use/share them. Please note these photos are not full quality. Most higher-quality photos and originals are available via Google Drive.
Read more about Eli’s colorization project in PinkNews here.
Weimar Germany
Weimar Germany was among the most supportive societies for trans people in the history of Europe. With newly available medical care, many flocked to Berlin to obtain treatment.
See the original Twitter conversation here.
Stonewall
A rampant misconception about the Stonewall Rioters figures them as white gay cis men. Along with anti-Black sentiment, this misunderstanding partially stems from black-and-white photography. While it was certainly mostly gay cis men who patronized Stonewall, it was indisputably instigated by the arrest of a Black drag king (Stormé DeLarverie) and fought by a multiracial, multigender group.
1960s Japan
Japan had a short-lived heyday of transgender self-determination in the mid-century. Multiple clinics offered gender-affirming surgeries from around 1950 to 1965 before the nation banned them. Trans people hung out on the streets of Tokyo like in these Katsumi Watanabe photos.
1960s Japan was by no measure a haven for trans people. However, it wasn’t like the U.S., either. Trans folks congregated in bars with relaxed “crossdressing” laws compared to other countries. These newly colorized photos show the everyday lives of trans women in midcentury Tokyo.
See the original Twitter thread here.
Amelio Robles Ávila
Think trans people are too mean about misgendering these days? From 1913 on, Zapatista colonel Amelio Robles Ávila (1889-1984) threatened to shoot anyone that called him a woman with his pistol. He lived openly as a man for 71 years and was supported by his family, peers, and government.
See the original Twitter conversation here.
Stormé DeLarverie
Stormé DeLarverie (1920-2014) was a Black drag king, bodyguard, and Stonewall veteran. After his arrest sparked the Stonewall Riots, he became a bouncer for multiple dyke bars. He became known as the “guardian of lesbians in the Village” and patrolled streets to stop gay bashings. He used multiple pronouns, eventually switching to he/him in his later life.
Le Monocle
Le Monocle was an influential, multiracial dyke/trans bar in 1930s Paris. Monocles were a bit like wearing a pride flag among the queer people assigned female at the time. Although the Nazis shut down the bar during the war, many patrons stayed in touch for years after.
Famed Hungarian-French nightlife artist Brassaï captured many photos of the club, now housed at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
See the original Twitter conversation here.
1960s San Francisco
1960s San Francisco brought many trans women to California. These rare photos were digitized and colorized from James Patrick Driscoll’s 1968 San Francisco State University thesis. Unfortunately, none of the trans women were named in the photos.
Christine Jorgensen
Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) was one of the U.S.’s first trans celebrities. She helped introduce transgender identity to thousands of people after she returned from gender-affirming surgery in Denmark in 1952.
Dina Alma de Paradeda
Dina Alma de Paradeda (1871-1906) was the first Brazilian trans woman to gain fame in Europe. Researchers reported she was the daughter of a Spanish noble, giving her the title “contessa.” She met Magnus Hirschfeld in 1903 and had a large social circle of other queer and trans people.
These images were taken around 1897 in Naples. These images are colorized from a scan of Franz Ludwig von Neugebauer’s (1856-1914) 1908 book
Hermaphroditismus beim Menschenvia the Internet Archive (page 647).
A note from Eli: I could only find these two low-quality photos of de Paradeda, so if you know of any others, please send them my way!
Jackie Shane
Jackie Shane (1940-2019) was a Black trans Tennessean singer active from the 1950s-2000s. She came out as transgender at 13 to a supportive family in the Jim Crow south. Jackie should have been a superstar but the world wasn’t ready for her legendary voice.
Weegee’s New York
Trans history often lives in unexpected places. Arthur Fellig (known professionally as Weegee, 1899-1968) was one of the first famous street photographers in NYC. Working in the 1930s-1940s, he captured an astonishing amount of trans city life while crossdressing laws were still in effect.
Trans women in midcentury New York faced immense pushback for openly expressing themselves. However, today’s public often forgets how many of us were also celebrated entertainers, models, and stylists (among many other professions).
We typically think of the past as full of horrific persecution of trans people. It certainly wasn’t safe but not as agonizing as in the popular imagination, either. Adding to this perception are a disproportionate amount of arrest records and photos like those of Weegee. Relatedly, photos like these over-represent white trans women, who were more likely to be in the same neighborhoods as those who could afford cameras. However un-representative of actual trans life of the past, this documentation is crucial for understanding how trans the trans community came to be as it is today.
Click here to see the original Twitter thread.
Gerd Katter
Gerd Katter (1910-1995) was a fierce trans teen activist. He transitioned as a child but was denied top surgery in 1927 due to his age (16). After much protest, he eventually received the surgery at 18.
Gerd Katter is most remembered for his “transvestite pass” (colorized below), one of the first IDs approving trans people to live openly. He also helped bring together trans holocaust survivors and donated queer/trans materials for preservation. Read more about his photos at http://transreads.org/anethicsofattentiveness/
Read the original Twitter thread.
Christer Strömholm’s Paris
Christer Strömholm’s 1950s-60s photos of unnamed Parisian trans women are so gripping because they show everyday life during an era trans people weren’t supposed to have existed. There were no spectacular police raids but instead love, laughter, and plenty of dancing.
Of the Strömholm photos that reveal more extraordinary scenes, trans women are intimately portrayed as entertainers and performers.
See the original Twitter thread here.
Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson
Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) and Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) were two of the most influential trans activists in history. We would not have the queer and trans movement as we know it today without them. They were Stonewall veterans and founders of the organization STAR. Due to the economic precarity of the queer and trans community of the 1970s, almost all photos of them during the decade were in black and white.
Lucy Hicks Anderson
Lucy Hicks Anderson transitioned at age 15 in 1901. A talented chef, she earned enough to buy a house for a prohibition-era brothel and speakeasy. She was beloved in her community of Oxnard, California, until she had to move after the district attorney publicly outed her as trans. She went to court for writing “female” on her marriage certificate in 1945. During her trial, she challenged the public: “I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman. I have lived, dressed, acted just what I am, a woman.” The jury still convicted her despite her popular reputation. You can read more about her story in C. Riley Snorton’s Black on Both Sides.
Aleshia Brevard
Aleshia Brevard was a trailblazing Tennessean trans woman. She left home at 15 and quickly became a drag star in 1960 at the legendary Finocchio’s. After performing her own orchiectomy surgery, she joined major Hollywood films and even became a Playboy model.
Aleshia’s book, The Woman I Was Not Born To Be: A Transsexual Journey, is insightful and uniquely hilarious. This woman should have done comedy because she was brilliant. She even had a great sense of humor over being forced to perform her own castration (p. 10-11). You can read it at transreads.org/aleshiabrevard/.
Aleshia is a great example of why people believe trans is “new.” She wasn’t out most of her life. After transitioning in California, she returned to Tennessee under a new name and attended Middle TN State University. She didn’t learn there was a trans community until the 1990s!
In 1962, the young trans woman’s Tennessean parents became extremely supportive of their trans daughter! Even her minister showed support. According to Aleshia, her husband soon became “the son my daddy never got.”
Aleshia passed in 2017, age 79. Like other white women of the midcentury, she left a complex legacy. Her story provides an important window into 1960s trans life. However, she also had a deeply troubling relationship with the Black and trans communities. Regardless of how we feel, her life reminds us of how the trans movement emerged.
Louise Lawrence
Louise Lawrence (1912-1976) was a trailblazer in the trans community. Yet, she’s rarely heard of unless you study trans history. She helped organize a network of queer and trans people beginning in the 1940s, later working with the Mattachine Society and giving public lectures on gender. In 2018, the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive opened in Vallejo, California.
Charlotte McLeod
Tennessean Charlotte Francis McLeod (1925-2007) was the second U.S. trans woman to obtain gender-affirming surgery in Denmark after Christine Jorgensen in 1953. She was 28 years old.
At first, Charlotte McLeod’s father didn’t support her medical transition. However, after her surgery, he explained, “now that it’s over, I’m ready to accept Charlotte as my daughter[…] It’s a little hard to get used to after all these years, but I will, you can bet on that.”
Unlike present newspapers, nearly all reporting on Charlotte was positive and celebratory. A 1954 issue of the Nashville Banner noted her beauty and that all her friends, neighbors, and loved ones accepted her.
On the right, you clearly see the love and support in her father’s eyes after she returned from surgery. He adored his daughter and celebrated her for who she was.
See the original Twitter thread here.
Mark Weston
Mark Weston (1905-1978) transitioned in 1936. It’s as if he was erased from the history books. He was one of the world’s top athletes and Britain’s number one “women’s” shotputter for six years. His brother Harry was also trans.
Mark and Harry transitioned around the same time in the 1930s. Instead of accusing them of harm or “grooming,” the responses ranged from the curious to the dramatic. Nearly all papers respected Mark’s pronouns. His medical treatment was even widely celebrated as a breakthrough.
Like most trans people of his era, there’s debate if Mark Weston was intersex. Nearly everyone claimed to be intersex at the time to obtain basic respect. He figured he was trans due to his clearly high T levels. Regardless, he spearheaded trans medical procedures in London.
After changing his IDs to male, Mark married Alberta Bray. Papers congratulated the couple across the globe. The pair then withdrew from the spotlight. “I want to get away from publicity and be allowed to live my own life with my wife,” he explained following months of reporting.
Mark and Alberta raised three children and had long, happy, private lives. In his later years, Mark worked as a physiotherapist, helping athletes like himself feel comfortable in their own bodies. He passed away in 1978, age 72.
See the original Twitter thread here.
Coccinelle
Coccinelle (Jacqueline Dufresnoy) was a French trans model, actress, and showgirl. The multitalented artist was among France’s first transgender celebrities. She made her debut in 1953 before swiftly becoming a cultural icon. Although her story has faded from the headlines, she reminds us that trans women have been adored by society in the past.
Liddy Bacroff
One of the most common forms of Holocaust denial claims queer and trans people weren’t persecuted. Among the victims was Liddy Bacroff, a popular trans woman, poet, and sex worker. The Reich detained and murdered her in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp for her trans identity.
Liddy attempted to obtain an orchiectomy in 1938 but the doctor instead recommended her for detention. She wrote about her transness while incarcerated, although only a few of her 1930s pieces survive. Thankfully, scholars like Dr. Bodie A. Ashton are fighting to republish them.
Thankfully, Liddy’s story found new life recently with the 2023 publication of To Be Seen: Queer Lives 1900–1950. It follows people like Libby who lived, loved, and built a community in Weimar, Nazi, and post-war Germany.
View the original Twitter thread.
Otto Spengler
Otto Spengler (1876-1940s) became the first known trans person to take synthetic hormones in 1928. She was also Magnus Hirschfeld’s first medical patient. Otto knew she was a trans lesbian since she was 12 and loved to dress up for photographs. She transitioned in the early 1900s. The above portraits are from the 1900s in Magnus Hirschfeld’s Die Transvestiten (1912).
Sir Ewan Forbes
Ewan Forbes was a Scottish nobleman who began his transition at age 15, around 1927. He was among the first transgender Europeans to have their gender accepted in court after his cousin sued to inherit his baronetcy. The court eventually ruled in Ewan’s favor in 1968 and he inherited his family’s 17th century pink castle in Brux. The massive estate was reportedly an inspiration for Walt Disney’s castle design.
I was completely captivated by these photos of him so I decided to colorize them. That’s him with his wife Isabella Mitchell on the left (1966) and a golden lab named “Stolen Day” on the right (1952).
Ewan published a 1984 memoir, The Aul’ Days, which focused on his different journeys. More recently, Zoë Playdon wrote The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes. It follows Ewan’s legal case and transition.
The Aul’ Days: archive.org/details/auldaysforb00forb/page/n1/mode/
Hidden Case: transreads.org/ewanforbes/
You can purchase a physical copy of The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes here.
Robert Allen
A quiet trans man, Robert Allen (1914-1997) didn’t seem the type to make headlines. However, his 1957 marriage was front-page news. He transitioned in 1943 and was among the first in the UK allowed to legally change sex. There are few photos of him but I colorized these two stunning portraits.
Allen published his autobiography in 1954, “But for the Grace: The True Story of a Dual Existence.” There is contradictory reporting on Robert – if he was intersex or simply found a sympathetic doctor. Regardless, he lived a long and happy life. He shouldn’t be forgotten.
View the original Twitter thread here.
Carl Macmichael
In 1971, Carl Macmichael and his cis son spoke to the Sunday paper. Not only did Carl’s 15-year-old son support his father, but he was delighted to have a trans dad: “I think he’s very brave. It’s quite handy to have mum and dad the same person.”
Shortly after transitioning, Carl asked Thelma O’Sullivan to become his nurse in 1969. She helped Carl medically transition for 2 years while realizing her feelings for him. “Many people have ridiculed Carl, and I suppose some people will think me odd for falling in love with him. But I don’t care,” she explained. “He has gone through a great deal and I hope I can give him a little of the happiness that he is seeking.”
Like most trans people at the time, Carl claimed to be intersex. Having XY chromosomes and being capable of giving birth is extraordinarily rare, leaving us to wonder if he told this to newspapers for legitimacy. All the names in the article are pseudonyms so there was never any follow-up after 1971.
Michael Dillon
Michael Dillon (1915-1962) is one of trans history’s most influential people. Yet, he’s rarely discussed in today’s media. An Irish noble, he was among the first to medically transition in the 1930s. He spearheaded trans medicine and became the face of trans issues during his era.
Michael Dillon’s work is now available online. Minding the weird 1950s orientalism, his conception of trans identity is still fascinating to learn about. You can read both Self and his more autobiographical book Out of the Ordinary on Trans Reads.
Tamara Rees
Thirty-year-old Tamara Rees showed what trans empowerment looked like in 1954. She fought Nazis, taught parachuting, and traveled the world… but her biggest hurdle came when the press learned of her identity.
1950s news coverage of Tamera Rees’ transition shows a time before the trans moral panic. Most stories considered her brave or heroic for her openness. National papers would even celebrate her wedding in 1955. At worst, her narrative was seen as banal and unnewsworthy.
The New York Daily News ran a surprisingly respectful series of articles on trans people in the 1950s. Tamara Rees’ were among the longest and most detailed. She thoughtfully implored the public to respect not only her identity but also other trans people like her.
Tamara wasn’t the first famous trans woman of the 1950s nor was she the best known. However, she had a unique opportunity to share her own story. You can read Tamara’s 1955 autobiography, “Reborn”: A Factual Life Story of a Transition from Male to Female, at http://transreads.org/reborn
Anonymous Transmasculine People c1910
Six anonymous German subjects, most likely transmasculine people from c. 1910. The low-quality photo was a gift from Harry Benjamin to the Kinsey Institute in 1958.
See the original Twitter conversation here.