William Dorsey Swann, the first drag queen 

William Dorsey Swann's story is remarkable. One unfortunate side effect: No images of him are known to exist, so people are now using later photos of another performer to represent Swann without naming the person actually portrayed in the images or mentioning his story. The photographs seen at 0:57-1:05 in the video don't show Swann. Instead, they're French postcards of the American vaudeville duo Charles Gregory and Jack Brown, who caused a sensation when they introduced the cakewalk to Paris in 1902. Film pioneer Louis Lumière even made a short of their act: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ATEb9RGIBzc.html Jack Brown’s drag cakewalk performance inspired a number of similar drag acts in France and elsewhere in Europe. I'd like to see further research done on the story of Gregory and Brown themselves as pioneering African American stage performers. They merit recognition, as well. In our eagerness to share Swann's story, let's please do refrain from inadvertently erasing the names of two other African American - and likely queer - figures from history who deserve to be honored in their own right.