How Black Queer Culture Shaped History | Channing Gerard Joseph | TED

翻译人员: Zhenyu Wang 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

Hello folks, I'd like to start with a song

大家好，我想用一首歌作为开始

and the lyrics of the song are:

这首歌的歌词是：

"Walk light, ladies, the cake's all dough.

“女士要脚步轻盈，否则形象不保。”

You need not mind the weather if the wind don't blow."

若是还没起风， 就不要担心天气怎样。”

So if you can repeat after me,

那，大家可以和我一起念，

"Walk light ladies, the cake's all dough."

“女士要脚步轻盈，否则形象不保。”

Audience: "Walk light, ladies, the cake's all dough."

观众：“女士要脚步轻盈， 否则形象不保。”

CGJ: "You needn't mind the weather if the wind don't blow."

CGJ：“若是还没起风， 就不要担心天气怎样。”

Audience: "You needn't mind the weather if the wind don't blow."

观众：“若是还没起风， 就不要担心天气怎样。”

CGJ: Ok, so you got it. So I’ll sing.

CGJ：很好，你们学会了。那我来唱出来。

(Singing) “Walk light, ladies, the cake’s all dough,

（唱歌）“女士脚步要轻盈， 否则形象不保。

you needn’t mind the weather if the wind don’t blow.

若是还没起风， 就不要担心天气怎样。

Walk light, ladies, the cake’s all dough,

女士脚步要轻盈，否则形象不保，

you needn’t mind the weather if the wind don’t blow. ...

若是还没起风， 就不要担心天气怎样……

Walk light, ladies, the cake's all dough,

女士脚步要轻盈，否则形象不保，

you needn’t mind the weather if the wind don’t blow.”

若是还没起风， 就不要担心天气怎样。”

Hardly anyone knows that song anymore,

现在几乎没人知道这首歌了，

but it was a popular one during the slavery era.

但在美国奴隶制时期大受欢迎，

Black Americans sang it on holidays

美国黑人会在假日唱这首歌，

and during a dance contest called a cakewalk.

还会在步态竞赛上唱这首歌。

But what you may not know is that drag queens probably sang it

但你们或许不知道 在美国早期的酷儿酒吧里，

at some of the earliest queer balls in the United States.

变装皇后也会唱这首歌，

And you also may not know

你也可能不知道，

that drag culture shares a history with African-American emancipation.

变装文化和美国黑人解放运动 有着共同的历史。

The reason you don't know is that Black queer communities

你之所以不了解 那是因为黑人酷儿群体，

have largely been erased from history.

在历史上基本被抹除了。

That's in part due to the fact

一部分是因为这样的事实，

that so much historical research begins with genealogy.

有很多历史研究都是从系谱学开始的，

And what is genealogy?

那么系谱学到底是什么呢？

It's basically a record of heterosexual behavior:

系谱学基本上记录的是异性恋行为：

mother, father, child;

母亲、父亲、孩子；

birth, marriage, inheritance.

出生、结婚、继承。

But another reason is that historians of all colors

还有另外一个原因， 无论是哪种肤色的历史学家

have looked down on Black queer folks like me

都瞧不起像我这样的黑人酷儿

as immoral, deviant,

他们认为我们是不道德的、离经叛道的、

distasteful, diseased,

令人厌恶的、有病的、

even dangerous.

甚至觉得我们是危险的。

And the long-term impact of that

这种行为的长期影响就是

is that many of us don't learn

我们中的大多数都不知道

how Black queer people have shaped history.

黑人酷儿是如何改变历史的。

People like Bayard Rustin,

像拜雅特·鲁斯丁 （Bayard Rustin）这样的人，

a gay Black man who organized the March on Washington in 1963,

他是一名黑人同性恋， 组织了 1963 年的向华盛顿进军运动，

leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

并促成了民权法案的通过。

Or Frances Thompson, a formerly enslaved Black woman,

还有弗朗西斯·汤普森（Frances Thompson），

以前是被奴役的黑人女性，

assigned male at birth,

出生时是男性，

whose harrowing congressional testimony

她在国会发出的令人痛心的证词

about the Memphis race riots of 1866

证词谈到了 1866 年的孟菲斯种族暴乱

helped shape the course of Reconstruction

推动了重构的进程，

and galvanized support for the 14th Amendment,

还引发了人们对第十四修正案的大力支持，

which provided Black Americans with citizenship rights

最终帮美国黑人赢得了公民权力、

and the promise of equal protection.

和平等保护的承诺。

As an effeminate Black kid growing up in Louisiana,

我在路易斯安州长大，

因为具有阴柔的气质，再加上还是个黑人，

I was bullied a lot.

小时候没少遭到霸凌。

In elementary school,

上小学的时候，

the other kids called me a girl

别的小朋友会叫我女孩子，

and I felt out of place almost all the time.

很多时候我都会觉得羞耻到无处遁形，

If I had learned in school

要是我上学的时候就知道

about the contributions of Black queer people,

黑人酷儿做出的贡献的话，

it would have made an enormous impact on my life.

那一定会对我的人生产生巨大的影响。

I think recovering these histories can save kids' lives.

我认为重新讲述这些历史 能够拯救孩子于水火之中，

But after spending the last 15 years

但是，当我花了 15 年的时间

researching and writing about these topics,

研究相关话题、为它们写作以后，

I would like to make the case

我现在更倾向于认为

that learning Black queer history

了解黑人酷儿的历史

is crucial to understanding our shared history.

对我们了解共有的历史而言至关重要。

So you've probably heard

你或许听说过

that the fight for queer liberation began with the Stonewall uprising.

酷儿解放之战始于“石墙事件”。

New York police raided a queer bar in 1969.

1969 年，纽约警方 突袭搜查了一间酷儿酒吧。

Riots followed and magically,

冲突随即发生，

a celebration of pride was born.

神奇的是一种骄傲之感也随之产生。

The problem is, that's not true.

但问题是，事实并非如此。

(Laughs)

（笑声）

Queer pride did not arise out of nowhere.

酷儿群体的骄傲并不是突然产生的。

There had to be a foundation of self-acceptance

这种骄傲一定是建立在自我接受的基础之上

and solidarity in place already.

还有这个群体早就有的万众一心。

And in fact,

事实上，

many people had been working for decades

许多人已经为此奋斗了好几十年

to build the courageous and confident community

就是为了建立一个鼓舞人心、 让人信心倍增的团体，

that made Stonewall, pride

是这些造就了石墙事件、 是这些让大家倍感自豪，

and eventually, marriage equality possible.

因此，婚姻平等才变得可能。

One of those people was William Dorsey Swann,

威廉·多西·斯旺 （William Dorsey Swann）是其中的一员。

the first drag queen.

他是第一位变装皇后。

Swann was born into slavery in Maryland just before the Civil War.

美国独立战争开始前不久， 斯旺出生于马里兰的一个奴隶家庭。

In the 1880s, as a young adult,

19 世纪 80 年代，年轻的斯旺

he moved to Washington, DC

搬去了华盛顿哥伦比亚特区，

to find work to help support his parents and siblings.

想要在这里找到工作接济父母和兄弟姐妹。

In Washington, he found the Emancipation Day parade,

他在华盛顿发现了解放日大游行

an enormous annual celebration

这是一个盛大的年度庆典活动

commemorating the end of slavery in the US capitol.

纪念美国国会废除了奴隶制。

The highlights of the parade were called queens:

游行中最夺目的当属那些女王了：

Beautiful, crowned Black women

她们是美丽的、佩戴皇冠的黑人女性，

who personified African-Americans' newfound freedom.

她们是非洲裔美国人重获自由的化身，

The queens of Emancipation Day so inspired Swann,

解放日当天的女王们也启发到了斯旺，

that he adopted the title "queen" for himself

他也在秘密的舞蹈中，

at the secret dance

为自己冠名为“女王”，

that he and his friends called "a drag."

他自己本人和他的朋友把这叫做“变装”。

The word "drag" possibly comes from a contraction of "grand rag,"

“drag(变装)” 这个词 可能就是 “grand rag” 的缩写。

which is an early term for a masquerade ball.

这是一个很早就用于化妆舞会的术语。

So although people assigned male at birth have dressed in feminine clothing

即使一出生是男儿身，

for all sorts of reasons throughout the centuries,

但几百年了，男生总会 找各种理由穿上女性的衣服，

the term "drag queen" began with Swann,

“变装”皇后这个术语 就是从斯旺开始的，

who was the earliest documented person to call himself a queen

他是文字记录中最早自称为“皇后”的人，

of a cross-dressing party described by its participants as a drag.

在一场变装派对中， 参加聚会的人说他是变装皇后。

The title queen signified

皇后这个头衔，

that Swann held an honored place in the community.

毫无疑问体现了 他当时在这个群体中备受尊重。

But the term "queen" is even more important

此外，“皇后”这个也有着更重大的意义，

because it's one of the earliest positive terms

因为，这是当时酷儿群体 用来形容描述自己时，

that queer people had to describe ourselves.

所使用的、最正向的词汇了。

In the 1880s,

在 19 世纪 80 年代，

positive terms like "transgender" and "non-binary" didn't exist yet.

例如，“跨性别”，还有“非二元性别” 这类正向的词汇尚不存在，

"Homosexual" was a word only used by Germans.

“同性恋”是德国人使用的唯一一个词汇，

And although "gay," "lesbian" and "bisexual" were English words,

虽然“同性恋”、“蕾丝”、 还有“双性恋”都是英文词汇，

they didn't mean what they mean today

但它们当时还没有现在的意思，

and they weren't used to self-identify.

也没有用于进行自我认同的描述。

So it can be tempting to apply modern identities to people of a distant past.

所以对于过去的那些人来说 应用现代性的认同极具诱惑力，

But if we do so,

可是要是我们这样做了，

we often fail to consider and respect

我们往往无法理解和尊重

the ways that they thought of themselves.

他们看待自己的方式，

Right?

对吗？

If we fail to consider how our ancestors thought of themselves,

如果我们无法理解 我们的祖先看待自己的方式，

we risk erasing a crucial element of our shared history.

我们实际上是在非常冒险地 在擦除共同历史中非常重要的一部分。

Swann's balls were raided numerous times by the DC police

斯旺的舞会遭遇过 华盛顿特区警察的多次突袭检查，

leading to jail time

还让他遭遇牢狱之灾，

and eventually a public petition and a bid for a presidential pardon.

最终进行公开请愿，请求获得总统特赦。

That makes Swann the earliest documented American activist

所以斯旺就成了有记录以来

to take legal steps to defend the queer community.

采取法律手段 捍卫酷儿群体的美国激进主义分子。

But the authorities couldn't stop Swann

政府无法组织斯旺，

and couldn't stop the balls from continuing

无法阻止人们继续举办舞会，

and expanding to other cities.

无法阻止它向其他城市的扩张和蔓延。

Today, queer drag is mainstream.

如今，酷儿变装成为了主流，

From “Paris is Burning” to “Pose” to “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

无论是《巴黎妖姬》、还是《姿态》， 亦或是《鲁保罗变装皇后秀》，

and the houses of 21st century ballroom culture,

还是有 21 世纪舞室文化之家之称——

which feature queens who preside over beauty and dance contests,

由变装皇后主持的选美和舞蹈比赛，

have maintained the same basic structure as Swann's 19th-century community.

都保持着与斯旺 19 世纪酷儿社区相同的基本结构。

The history of DC's Emancipation Day has largely been forgotten,

华盛顿特区的解放日历史 在很大程度上被人们忘记了，

but the power to choose how we define ourselves, as Swann did,

但是向斯旺那样拥有选择 如何定义自我的能力，

is more important now than ever.

对于现在的我们来说， 比以往任何时候都更重要，

And as long as the term "queen" lives on,

只要“皇后”这个词还存在，

anyone who participates in

任何参与到

or enjoys watching drag competitions

喜欢观看变装皇后比赛的人，

is paying homage to a century-and-a-half long celebration

都是在致敬这长达一个半世纪的、

of African-American emancipation.

纪念非裔美国人解放的庆典。

And William Dorsey Swann is just one example.

威廉·多西·斯旺只是众多例子中的一个，

How many other Black queer stories

到底有多少黑人酷儿故事

have been erased from the historical record?

被人们从历史记录中抹去？

And what could those stories teach us about who we are?

在关于我们是谁这个问题上， 这些被抹去的故事又能教会我么什么呢？

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause and cheers)

（掌声与欢呼）