Black History Month - Black Trans Women - February 8th

Today, I wanted to spend a moment remembering Monica Roberts, a Black transgender writer and activist whose work focused on making sure people were seen, named, and not forgotten. Through persistence and care, she built spaces where trans lives were documented with dignity at a time when very few people were paying attention. Monica Roberts was a Black transgender activist, writer, and community historian from Houston, Texas. At a time when mainstream media barely covered violence against trans people, she created the blog TransGriot, which became one of the most important archives documenting the lives, deaths, and achievements of transgender people, especially Black trans women. She reported on murders that news outlets ignored, corrected misgendering in media coverage, and made sure victims were remembered as human beings rather than statistics. What made Monica a trailblazer was that she understood visibility required record keeping. By documenting names, stories, and injustices year after year, she created a living history written from within the community rather than about it. She also advocated for inclusive policies in sports, healthcare, and civil rights protections, while mentoring younger activists and writers. Much of what we now know about patterns of violence against trans women exists because Monica Roberts insisted those lives mattered enough to be recorded. Her work reminds us that preserving memory can itself be activism, and that history only exists when someone refuses to let it disappear.