ANDREA JENKINS (b. 1961)
Andrea Jenkins is the first out Black transgender woman to win elected office in the US. Jenkins is also an accomplished poet, writer, and historian, focusing her efforts on documenting the stories of transgender and gender non-conforming Midwesterners.
Born in Chicago, IL in 1961, Jenkins was raised by a single mother and lived her one sibling and two cousins. She would also spend time with her grandparents on the weekend.
Jenkins spent her childhood participating in Cub Scouts and playing football, while also loving literature and poetry. She started at the University of Minnesota in 1979 and lived in male dorms and even joined a fraternity. She was expelled from the fraternity when one of her roommate in the fraternity outed her. She returned home to her mother and came out as bisexual (something she still identifies with today).
While in her 20s, Jenkins married a woman and had a daughter. She also began working as a vocational counselor with Hennepin County. At 30, she divorced her wife and came out as trans, stating that she could no longer go on hiding the truth from herself.
Jenkins political career began in 2001, when she began working on Robert Lilligren’s campaign, and then staffer, for the Minneapolis City Council. In 2005, Jenkins became an aid for Elizabeth Glidden. While working for Glidden, Jenkins earned a fellowship dedicated to transgender issues and established the Transgender Issues Work Group in 2014.
In 2015, Jenkins began working at the University of Minnesota’s Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies where she curates the Transgender Oral History Project.
In 2017, Jenkins won a seat on Minneapolis City Council, securing more than 70% of the vote, and was elected vice president. She was reelected in 2021 and was named City Council President in 2022.
In addition to her role in politics, Jenkins is an accomplished performance artist, poet, and writer. When asked about her role in history, Jenkins had this to say: “I view my role in history really just as a relay runner in the long race towards human progress and racial justice in this country. It’s a journey, and we all have a role to play. And I think my time has come up to make sure that Black LGBTQ people are a part of that arc towards human progress.”
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