As March marks Women’s History Month, Caribbean-American Council Member Crystal Hudson proclaims that Women’s History is still being written.
“Women’s history is American history. Women’s history is Black history. Women’s history is Queer history. And Women’s history cannot be separated from the movements that have pushed this country to live up to its promises,” said Hudson, representative for the 35th Council District in Central Brooklyn, in a message to constituents on Tuesday, Mar. 3.
“Here in New York City, that history lives in women who refused to shrink themselves to make others comfortable,” added Hudson, whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica. “It lives in Audre Lorde, who wrote plainly about how racism, sexism, and homophobia shape everyday life.”
She said Lorde pushed movements to confront their blind spots and told the truth even when it made people uneasy.
“Her work still challenges us to build coalitions strong enough to address inequity in all its forms,” Hudson said.
She said Women’s History also lives in Marsha P. Johnson, whose presence during the uprising at the Stonewall Inn helped catalyze a global fight for LGBTQIA+ rights.
“Her legacy lives beyond any slogan or her actions on a single night,” the Council Member said. “She spent her life organizing and supporting young people who had been pushed out and overlooked.
“And at a time like this, when federal officials have removed transgender identities from official narratives at the National Stonewall Monument and removed the Pride flag from a site that carries so much history, it is clear it still matters whose stories are told,” Hudson added.
In addition, she said Women’s History lives in Gladys Bentley, who took Harlem stages on her own terms during the Harlem Renaissance.
“Through music, style, and unapologetic self-expression, she expanded what was possible in public life for Black queer women,” Hudson said. “Long before the language existed, she embodied it — showing that authenticity is a form of defiance.”
She said these women, and many more, understood that the fight for gender equity has always been tied to racial justice and LGBTQIA+ liberation.
“As Audre Lorde said, ‘There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives,’” Hudson said. “When those at the margins are pushed further out, it affects all of us. When they are protected and valued, our city is stronger for it.”
She said this Women’s History Month is about “telling the full story — not a simplified one.
“It is about recognizing that progress has always come from people willing to stand firm when it would have been easier to step back,” Hudson said. “And it is about continuing that work with clarity and purpose.
“This month, and every month, we honor women’s history by carrying it forward,” she added.
