One of the great things about the digitizing of past EBONY and JET magazine issues is that they act as a digital time capsule that you can search for nuggets of history.One of the pleasant surprises has been to discover just how much JET covered trans issues of people of African descent back in the day.
On the tail end of the March 16, 1967 issue of JET is a small two paragraph item about a transwoman named Carole Small, who they stated was about to undergo SRS in Denmark.
The story stated that the then 28 year old from Philadelphia, PA was working as a female illusionist and singer garnering quite a following in (West) Germany.
It ends with her stating, "Black women in America are the luckiest on the face of the earth and it will be marvelous to be one."
Assuming Carole is still alive she'd be about 70 now. Does she still echo the same youthful sentiment she expressed in 1967?
Did she stay in Europe or return back to the United States to live her life? Did she get married and blend into society or did she discover that being a transwoman carried its own baggage even if you have the genitalia between your legs?
Assuming Carole is still alive, what advice would she have for her African descended transisters who followed her?
So once again, we have JET introducing us to a transwoman on the verge of getting SRS, then leaving us hanging concerning the details.
And that's frustrating to me as a trans person of African descent who wants to know my history.