BINARY BASHERS

Season Finale: Hard in America - Frances Thompson

Frances Thompson, a formerly enslaved Black trans woman, lived her womanhood in public despite escalating danger in post, Civil War Memphis. She survived the white supremacist violence of the 1866 Memphis Riots and testified before Congress, placing her voice into the national archive at a time when Black women were rarely heard. Later arrested under laws policing gender nonconformity, Thompson's life reveals how race, gender, and state power intertwined during Reconstruction era United States — and why her testimony still matters as debates over bodily autonomy and public identity continue 150 years later in 2026. Music: "Hard in America" by Gabriel Kelley, licensed through Epidemic Sound. A Note on Sources: This episode was made with care. It's based on established scholarship and publicly available archival records. If we've made an error, please let us know at https://binarybasherspodcast.com [https://embracingallofme.org] Embracing All of Me is a storytelling and advocacy platform for the multi, complex, and in-between, uplifting the voices of Bi+ people of color, our kin and friends. Visit our FAQs and Sources page to learn more about how this episode was developed. Topics: Frances Thompson, Black trans history, Black transgender history, Reconstruction era, 1866 Memphis Riots, Congressional testimony, Black women's history, gender nonconformity, trans resistance, bodily autonomy, LGBTQ+ history, Black queer history, post-Civil War America, trans historical figures

Too Much At Once, Just Right for History - Pauli Murray

Born into Jim Crow and refusing every box it tried to seal, Pauli Murray lived at the fault lines of American law, race, gender, and faith. Episode 6 of Binary Bashers, traces a life spent translating personal struggle into constitutional vision: from early challenges to segregated education, to legal theories that helped shape Brown v. Board of Education, to arguments against sex discrimination in Reed v. Reed that later undergirded Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s work. Murray’s journals and letters reveal an interior life wrestling with identity beyond rigid binaries. As a poet, lawyer, activist, and eventually the first Black woman ordained an Episcopal priest, Murray insisted that justice must be capacious enough to hold contradiction, vulnerability, and hope. This episode was made with care. It's based on established scholarship and publicly available information from credible sources. If we've made an error, please let us know at https://binarybasherspodcast.com [https://binarybasherspodcast.com]⁠⁠⁠⁠ Embracing All of Me is a storytelling and advocacy platform for the multi, complex, and in-between, uplifting the voices of Bi+ people of color, our kin and friends. ⁠⁠⁠Visit our FAQs and Sources page to learn more about how this episode was developed.

Multiplicity Was the Point - Dr. Ibrahim Farajajé

Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Abdurahman Farajajé charted his own path to become the total embodiment of a binary basher. Raised in a multiracial, multireligious Berkeley, California where difference was ordinary, Farajajé learned early that wholeness did not require erasure. Episode 5 traces a life shaped by multiplicity, Blackness, fluidity, spiritual and intellectual curiosity, at a time when institutions demanded legibility over truth. From being disciplined for an “untogether” curriculum, to navigating the fragile language of bisexuality as it first emerged as an identity, to confronting racism and gatekeeping in academia, Farajajé insisted that liberation without the body, desire, and spirit was incomplete. During the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, he carried that insistence into the Black church, choosing presence over safety. This episode was made with care. It's based on established scholarship and publicly available information from credible sources. If we've made an error, please let us know at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://embracingallofme.org.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://binarybasherspodcast.com] Embracing All of Me is a storytelling and advocacy platform for the multi, complex, and in-between, uplifting the voices of Bi+ people of color, our kin and friends. ⁠⁠⁠Visit our ⁠FAQs⁠ and ⁠Sources page⁠ to learn more about how this episode was developed.

Beyond the Bars, Beyond the Binary - Kuwasi Balagoon's Revolution

Born Donald Weems, Kuwasi Balagoon forged himself in the crucible of rebellion. A member of the Black Panther Party and later the Black Liberation Army, Balagoon’s life traced the fault lines of 1970s America—state violence, political imprisonment, and the unfinished work of Black liberation. He survived the Attica prison uprising, endured years in solitary confinement, and wrote fiercely about autonomy, queerness, and revolutionary love. Balagoon rejected binaries: nationalist and anarchist, soldier and poet, a gay man within movements that often erased queerness. His essays and letters reveal a thinker wrestling with revolutionary strategy and selfhood, insisting that freedom must include the fullness of identity. Today, as debates over protest, policing, and political prisoners continue, Balagoon’s voice asks what solidarity truly demands, and who it must protect. This episode draws on established scholarship and publicly available sources. If you notice an error, please let us know at https://binarybasherspodcast.com [https://embracingallofme.org] Binary Bashers is part of Embracing All of Me, a storytelling and advocacy platform uplifting the voices of Bi+ people of color, as well as our communities, kin, and allies. Visit our FAQs and Sources page to learn more about how this episode was developed.

Fully and Freely All That I Am - June Jordan

This episode of Binary Bashers explores the life and work of June Jordan, a groundbreaking Black feminist poet, essayist, educator, and activist who wrote from the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and empire. Refusing neat categories, Jordan centered lived experience and used language as a powerful tool for survival, intimacy, and resistance. Through her poetry, essays, and archival materials, this episode examines how June Jordan named injustice with precision while holding onto joy, love, and possibility. Her work bridges the personal and political, affirming Black life, bisexual identity, and global solidarity at a time when these connections were often ignored or erased. We also explore how Jordan understood freedom as a daily practice, something shaped in classrooms, communities, relationships, and movements for social justice. Her voice remains urgent, clear-eyed, and uncompromising, offering lasting insight into identity, activism, and the power of words. This episode draws on established scholarship and publicly available sources to present an accurate and thoughtful portrait of June Jordan’s legacy. If you notice an error, please let us know at https://binarybasherspodcast.com [https://embracingallofme.org]. Binary Bashers is part of Embracing All of Me, a storytelling and advocacy platform uplifting the voices of Bi+ BIPOC, as well as our communities, kin, and allies. Visit our FAQs and Sources page to learn more about how this episode was developed.