Miss Major

Known to many simply as “mama,” Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a trans elder and activist who blazed the trail for other high-profile transgender women of color. Griffin-Gracy has been involved, up close and personal, in decades of fights for rights, including at the Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969. Now 76 years old, she lives in Oakland and serves as the executive director for the Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project. Now a new documentary, called MAJOR!, brings her life into more intimate focus. Filmmakers Annalise Ophelian and StormMiguel Florez describe Griffin-Gracy’s legacy as enduring, and personal: “She’s been the emergency phone call, the helping hand, and the surrogate mother to an entire community of transgender women whom she’s supported, mentored, and helped mold into the next generation of community leaders.” The film, screening at Smith College this week, is followed by a Q&A with Smith professor Jennifer Declue, who teaches in the program for the Study of Women and Gender. 

MAJOR! — Film Screening: Thursday at 6 p.m. Neilson Library, Smith College, 10 Elm St., Northampton. smith.edu/events.

— Hunter Styles