Black August & Trans History Month:
Reaching Back to Push Forward
TKO thrives from the love of our community. So many contributed to making our Black August weekend one to remember.
BIG THANKS TO: Alabama Equality for their generous donation; Five Horizons Health Services, Montgomery Pride United & We Gone Get Free for tabling; our Sunday panelists Jenice Fountain of Yellowhammer Fund, Tiiwon Siaway of Art That Really Illuminates & the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, & Erin Michelle Washington of Soul Center; the queens who lit up the stage, LaVeesha TaRajae Starr & Stasha Nicole; DJ Meek for keeping the party going; Nichelle Payton Green and the Bertha P. Williams Library for welcoming us; The Sanctuary; the generous donor of many playtime goodies; and Breezy Vizuals for capturing the moments.
August holds two truths at once. It is Black August, a time to honor the political prisoners, freedom fighters, and revolutionaries who taught us that liberation requires discipline, sacrifice, and community. It is also Transgender History Month, a reminder that trans people have always shaped history, even when history refused to write down our names.
For Black trans Southerners, these stories have never been separate. This Black August, TKO Society gathered under the theme Reaching Back to Push Forward — making space to study where we come from, honor who made a way, and imagine what freedom can look like for us. From the day summit, “No Blood Running Off Their Bodies” on Aug. 14 to “Jericho Down” on Aug. 15, we explored our history, asked questions, shared a meal, and made room for joy through movement and expression on the dance floor. We closed the weekend with “I Sit at the Feet of...,” a virtual altar and offering to the Trancestors and Elders.
And we did it all in the memory of our beloved Kai (Kaitoria Bankz), whose birthday was Aug. 26.
This month we remembered that looking back isn’t about staying there. It’s about gathering what our people taught us — their wisdom, courage, creativity, and persistence — and carrying it forward. Our freedoms have always belonged together.