TED演講者：Channing Gerard Joseph / 錢寧·杰拉德·約瑟夫

演講標題：How Black queer culture shaped history / 黑人酷兒文化是如何塑造歷史的

內(nèi)容概要：Names like Bayard Rustin, Frances Thompson and William Dorsey Swann have been largely erased from US history, but they and other Black queer leaders played central roles in monumental movements like emancipation, civil rights and LGBTQ+ pride, among others. In this tribute to forgotten icons, queer culture historian and TED Fellow Channing Gerard Joseph shares their little-known stories, connecting the origins of drag in the 1880s to the present day and exploring the awesome power to choose how we define ourselves.

貝雅·拉斯?。˙ayard Rustin）、弗朗西斯·湯普森（Frances Thompson）和 威廉·多西·斯旺（William Dorsey Swann）這些名字已基本從美國歷史種抹去，但他們和其他黑人酷兒領(lǐng)袖在解放、民權(quán)和 LGBTQ+ 驕傲月等紀念性運動中發(fā)揮了核心作用。在這部向被遺忘的偶像致敬的影片中，酷兒文化歷史學家和 TED 研究員錢寧·杰拉德·約瑟夫分享了他們鮮為人知的故事，將 1880 年代變裝的起源與今天聯(lián)系起來，探索如何我們定義自己的強大力量。

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【1】Hello folks, I'd like to start with a song and the lyrics of the song are: "Walk light, ladies, the cake's all dough.

大家好,我想用一首歌作為開始 這首歌的歌詞是: “女士要腳步輕盈,否則形象不保。”

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

若是還沒起風, 就不要擔心天氣怎樣?！?/p>

【3】So if you can repeat after me, "Walk light ladies, the cake's all dough."

那,大家可以和我一起念, “女士要腳步輕盈,否則形象不保?！?/p>

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

觀眾:“女士要腳步輕盈, 否則形象不保?！?/p>

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

CGJ:“若是還沒起風, 就不要擔心天氣怎樣?！?/p>

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

觀眾:“若是還沒起風, 就不要擔心天氣怎樣。”

【7】CGJ: Ok, so you got it. So I'll sing.

CGJ:很好,你們學會了。那我來唱出來。

【8】(Singing) "Walk light, ladies, the cake's all dough, you needn't mind the weather if the wind don't blow.

（唱歌）“女士腳步要輕盈, 否則形象不保。 若是還沒起風, 就不要擔心天氣怎樣。

【9】Walk light, ladies, the cake's all dough, you needn't mind the weather if the wind don't blow. ...

女士腳步要輕盈,否則形象不保, 若是還沒起風, 就不要擔心天氣怎樣……

【10】Walk light, ladies, the cake's all dough, you needn't mind the weather if the wind don't blow."

女士腳步要輕盈,否則形象不保, 若是還沒起風, 就不要擔心天氣怎樣?！?/p>

【11】Hardly anyone knows that song anymore, but it was a popular one during the slavery era.

現(xiàn)在幾乎沒人知道這首歌了, 但在美國奴隸制時期大受歡迎,

【12】Black Americans sang it on holidays and during a dance contest called a cakewalk.

美國黑人會在假日唱這首歌, 還會在步態(tài)競賽上唱這首歌。

【13】But what you may not know is that drag queens probably sang it at some of the earliest queer balls in the United States.

但你們或許不知道 在美國早期的酷兒酒吧里, 變裝皇后也會唱這首歌,

【14】And you also may not know that drag culture shares a history with African-American emancipation.

你也可能不知道, 變裝文化和美國黑人解放運動 有著共同的歷史。

【15】The reason you don't know is that Black queer communities have largely been erased from history.

你之所以不了解 那是因為黑人酷兒群體, 在歷史上基本被抹除了。

【16】That's in part due to the fact that so much historical research begins with genealogy.

一部分是因為這樣的事實, 有很多歷史研究都是從系譜學開始的,

【17】And what is genealogy?

那么系譜學到底是什么呢？

【18】It's basically a record of heterosexual behavior: mother, father, child; birth, marriage, inheritance.

系譜學基本上記錄的是異性戀行為: 母親、父親、孩子; 出生、結(jié)婚、繼承。

【19】But another reason is that historians of all colors have looked down on Black queer folks like me as immoral, deviant, distasteful, diseased, even dangerous.

還有另外一個原因, 無論是哪種膚色的歷史學家 都瞧不起像我這樣的黑人酷兒 他們認為我們是不道德的、離經(jīng)叛道的、 令人厭惡的、有病的、 甚至覺得我們是危險的。

【20】And the long-term impact of that is that many of us don't learn how Black queer people have shaped history.

這種行為的長期影響就是 我們中的大多數(shù)都不知道 黑人酷兒是如何改變歷史的。

【21】People like Bayard Rustin, a gay Black man who organized the March on Washington in 1963, leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

像拜雅特.魯斯丁 （Bayard Rustin）這樣的人, 他是一名黑人同性戀, 組織了 1963 年的向華盛頓進軍運動, 并促成了民權(quán)法案的通過。

【22】Or Frances Thompson, a formerly enslaved Black woman, assigned male at birth, whose harrowing congressional testimony about the Memphis race riots of 1866 helped shape the course of Reconstruction and galvanized support for the 14th Amendment,

還有弗朗西斯.湯普森（Frances Thompson）, 出生時是男性, 她在國會發(fā)出的令人痛心的證詞 證詞談到了 1866 年的孟菲斯種族暴亂 推動了重構(gòu)的進程, 還引發(fā)了人們對第十四修正案的大力支持,

【23】which provided Black Americans with citizenship rights and the promise of equal protection.

最終幫美國黑人贏得了公民權(quán)力、 和平等保護的承諾。

【24】As an effeminate Black kid growing up in Louisiana, I was bullied a lot.

我在路易斯安州長大, 小時候沒少遭到霸凌。

【25】In elementary school, the other kids called me a girl and I felt out of place almost all the time.

上小學的時候, 別的小朋友會叫我女孩子, 很多時候我都會覺得羞恥到無處遁形,

【26】If I had learned in school about the contributions of Black queer people, it would have made an enormous impact on my life.

要是我上學的時候就知道 黑人酷兒做出的貢獻的話, 那一定會對我的人生產(chǎn)生巨大的影響。

【27】I think recovering these histories can save kids' lives.

我認為重新講述這些歷史 能夠拯救孩子于水火之中,

【28】But after spending the last 15 years researching and writing about these topics, I would like to make the case that learning Black queer history is crucial to understanding our shared history.

但是,當我花了 15 年的時間 研究相關(guān)話題、為它們寫作以后, 我現(xiàn)在更傾向于認為 了解黑人酷兒的歷史 對我們了解共有的歷史而言至關(guān)重要。

【29】So you've probably heard that the fight for queer liberation began with the Stonewall uprising.

你或許聽說過 酷兒解放之戰(zhàn)始于“石墻事件”。

【30】New York police raided a queer bar in 1969.

1969 年,紐約警方 突襲搜查了一間酷兒酒吧。

【31】Riots followed and magically, a celebration of pride was born.

沖突隨即發(fā)生, 神奇的是一種驕傲之感也隨之產(chǎn)生。

【32】The problem is, that's not true.

但問題是,事實并非如此。

【33】Queer pride did not arise out of nowhere.

酷兒群體的驕傲并不是突然產(chǎn)生的。

【34】There had to be a foundation of self-acceptance and solidarity in place already.

這種驕傲一定是建立在自我接受的基礎(chǔ)之上 還有這個群體早就有的萬眾一心。

【35】And in fact, many people had been working for decades to build the courageous and confident community that made Stonewall, pride and eventually, marriage equality possible.

事實上, 許多人已經(jīng)為此奮斗了好幾十年 就是為了建立一個鼓舞人心、 讓人信心倍增的團體, 是這些造就了石墻事件、 是這些讓大家倍感自豪, 因此,婚姻平等才變得可能。

【36】One of those people was William Dorsey Swann, the first drag queen.

威廉.多西.斯旺 （William Dorsey Swann）是其中的一員。 他是第一位變裝皇后。

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

美國獨立戰(zhàn)爭開始前不久, 斯旺出生于馬里蘭的一個奴隸家庭。

【38】In the 1880s, as a young adult, he moved to Washington, DC to find work to help support his parents and siblings.

19 世紀 80 年代,年輕的斯旺 搬去了華盛頓哥倫比亞特區(qū), 想要在這里找到工作接濟父母和兄弟姐妹。

【39】In Washington, he found the Emancipation Day parade, an enormous annual celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the US capitol.

他在華盛頓發(fā)現(xiàn)了解放日大游行 這是一個盛大的年度慶典活動 紀念美國國會廢除了奴隸制。

【40】The highlights of the parade were called queens: Beautiful, crowned Black women who personified African-Americans' newfound freedom.

游行中最奪目的當屬那些女王了: 她們是美麗的、佩戴皇冠的黑人女性, 她們是非洲裔美國人重獲自由的化身,

【41】The queens of Emancipation Day so inspired Swann, that he adopted the title "queen" for himself at the secret dance that he and his friends called "a drag."

解放日當天的女王們也啟發(fā)到了斯旺, 他也在秘密的舞蹈中, 為自己冠名為“女王”, 他自己本人和他的朋友把這叫做“變裝”。

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

“drag(變裝)” 這個詞 可能就是 “grand rag” 的縮寫。

【43】which is an early term for a masquerade ball.

這是一個很早就用于化妝舞會的術(shù)語。

【44】So although people assigned male at birth have dressed in feminine clothing for all sorts of reasons throughout the centuries, the term "drag queen" began with Swann,

即使一出生是男兒身, 但幾百年了,男生總會 找各種理由穿上女性的衣服, “變裝”皇后這個術(shù)語 就是從斯旺開始的,

【45】who was the earliest documented person to call himself a queen of a cross-dressing party described by its participants as a drag.

他是文字記錄中最早自稱為“皇后”的人, 在一場變裝派對中, 參加聚會的人說他是變裝皇后。

【46】The title queen signified that Swann held an honored place in the community.

皇后這個頭銜, 毫無疑問體現(xiàn)了 他當時在這個群體中備受尊重。

【47】But the term "queen" is even more important because it's one of the earliest positive terms that queer people had to describe ourselves.

此外,“皇后”這個也有著更重大的意義, 因為,這是當時酷兒群體 用來形容描述自己時, 所使用的、最正向的詞匯了。

【48】In the 1880s, positive terms like "transgender" and "non-binary" didn't exist yet.

在 19 世紀 80 年代, 例如,“跨性別”,還有“非二元性別” 這類正向的詞匯尚不存在,

【49】'"Homosexual" was a word only used by Germans.

“同性戀”是德國人使用的唯一一個詞匯,

【50】And although "gay," "lesbian" and "bisexual" were English words, they didn't mean what they mean today and they weren't used to self-identify.

雖然“同性戀”、“蕾絲”、 還有“雙性戀”都是英文詞匯, 但它們當時還沒有現(xiàn)在的意思, 也沒有用于進行自我認同的描述。

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

所以對于過去的那些人來說 應(yīng)用現(xiàn)代性的認同極具誘惑力,

【52】But if we do so, we often fail to consider and respect the ways that they thought of themselves.

可是要是我們這樣做了, 我們往往無法理解和尊重 他們看待自己的方式,

【53】Right?

對嗎？

【54】If we fail to consider how our ancestors thought of themselves, we risk erasing a crucial element of our shared history.

如果我們無法理解 我們的祖先看待自己的方式, 我們實際上是在非常冒險地 在擦除共同歷史中非常重要的一部分。

【55】Swann's balls were raided numerous times by the DC police leading to jail time and eventually a public petition and a bid for a presidential pardon.

斯旺的舞會遭遇過 華盛頓特區(qū)警察的多次突襲檢查, 還讓他遭遇牢獄之災(zāi), 最終進行公開請愿,請求獲得總統(tǒng)特赦。

【56】That makes Swann the earliest documented American activist to take legal steps to defend the queer community.

所以斯旺就成了有記錄以來 采取法律手段 捍衛(wèi)酷兒群體的美國激進主義分子。

【57】But the authorities couldn't stop Swann and couldn't stop the balls from continuing and expanding to other cities.

政府無法組織斯旺, 無法阻止人們繼續(xù)舉辦舞會, 無法阻止它向其他城市的擴張和蔓延。

【58】Today, queer drag is mainstream.

如今,酷兒變裝成為了主流,

【59】From "Paris is Burning" to "Pose" to "RuPaul's Drag Race"

無論是《巴黎妖姬》、還是《姿態(tài)》, 亦或是《魯保羅變裝皇后秀》,

【60】and the houses of 21st century ballroom culture, which feature queens who preside over beauty and dance contests, have maintained the same basic structure as Swann's 19th-century community.

還是有 21 世紀舞室文化之家之稱 由變裝皇后主持的選美和舞蹈比賽, 都保持著與斯旺 19 世紀酷兒社區(qū)相同的基本結(jié)構(gòu)。

【61】The history of DC's Emancipation Day has largely been forgotten, but the power to choose how we define ourselves, as Swann did, is more important now than ever.

華盛頓特區(qū)的解放日歷史 在很大程度上被人們忘記了, 但是向斯旺那樣擁有選擇 如何定義自我的能力, 對于現(xiàn)在的我們來說, 比以往任何時候都更重要,

【62】And as long as the term "queen" lives on, anyone who participates in or enjoys watching drag competitions is paying homage to a century-and-a-half long celebration of African-American emancipation.

只要“皇后”這個詞還存在, 任何參與到 喜歡觀看變裝皇后比賽的人, 都是在致敬這長達一個半世紀的、 紀念非裔美國人解放的慶典。

【63】And William Dorsey Swann is just one example.

威廉.多西.斯旺只是眾多例子中的一個,

【64】How many other Black queer stories have been erased from the historical record?

到底有多少黑人酷兒故事 被人們從歷史記錄中抹去？

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

在關(guān)于我們是誰這個問題上, 這些被抹去的故事又能教會我么什么呢？

【66】Thank you.

謝謝大家。