American Masters: Masters of Drag

In this new digital series, New York's sweetest drag diva Peppermint tells the story of pioneering American drag artists. In the process, she demonstrates how drag is a performance art form that has thrived in this country for generations, entertaining LGBTQ+ and general audiences alike, and providing the former with an important outlet of self-expression.

A gender-bending, famed blues musician and drag king who was a part of the Harlem Renaissance. She performed with drag queens and openly loved women, until later in life when she was pressured to conform to 1950s social standards.

A legend of the San Francisco drag scene. Out and Latino, Sarria dedicated his life to fight for queer rights and even ran as the country's first known openly gay candidate for public office. An international drag charity that he helped found continues his legacy with legendary drag galas to this day.

On her 35th birthday, Joan Jett Blakk, the drag persona of actor Terence Smith, ran for president in lipstick, heels and eyeshadow, continuing a long tradition of drag as political activism. Blakk had also run for mayors of Chicago and San Francisco. During these “campaigns,” Blakk advocated for policies that many politicians are still talking about today, including universal healthcare.

She was an artist, activist, gay mother and mentor to hundreds of queer and gender non-conforming youth over the years and starred in the fabulous 1968 drag documentary "The Queen," about a drag competition that she organized. She was full of life advice for her many mentees, including her reminder that “normal is just a setting on a dryer.”

Jean Malin was one of the first openly gay performers in the Prohibition era during the "pansy craze" of the early 1930s. Malin stood six feet tall, weighed 200 pounds, and had a wavy crop of blonde hair to die for. Although he was effeminate and a female impersonator, he was known to put hecklers and homophobes in their place with his wit — and his fists!

A proud Black trans woman, a drag mother and, a pageant girl, Crystal LaBeija was the cause of an iconic moment in drag history that paved the way for house culture, voguing, Paris is Burning, and the TV series Pose.

Born into slavery, Swann was the first known person to identify as a “Queen of Drag” and the first known American activist to lead a queer resistance group.