I went to bed having just read about black trans girls developing a sense of womanhood based on a fictional problematic girlboss... in 1928
So one of the very popular plays about Harlem Renaissance era Harlem was named Lulu Belle
The play was partly notable because while the main roles were played by white people in blackface, about 110 of the side roles were played by actual black people
yes the 1920s were so fucked up this was a victory for representation
the play follows Lulu Belle, representing the "new negress" of Harlem, which generally meant hypersexuality as well as criminality paired with a complete disregard and disdain for "legitimate society" shown by two scenes where she taunts a priest and a policeman, revealing their own moral hypocrisy
so definitely very early themes that we'll see repeated in blacksplotation films decades later
the black bougie side generally immediately hated the play because after all they were doing such a great job to assimilate the race and certainly weren't into all that queer stuff unless white people came around and flared up their inherent "primitivism"
however queer black people loved it and even named a club after the character that was one of the most popular places for queer folk to gather in Harlem
sadly most of the folks inspired by Lulu Belle's exploits in real life tended to get arrested by police
though according to a novel, in prison, such folks often found themselves in with other folks who had done the same crimes and were generally unrepentant, doing what they could to keep being themselves in prison
they would form a group of "girls", spruce up their cells, and give each other names after famous pop culture women... like Lulu Belle
so as I said:
black trans girls developing a sense of womanhood based on a fictional problematic girlboss... in 1928
y'all, don't nothing change
this is outlined in BULLDAGGERS, PANSIES, AND CHOCOLATE BABIES by James F. Wilson
which you can actually get for free off the University of Michigan free ebook page: