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”’Rita Hester”’ (30 November 1963<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-15 |title=”Everybody knew Rita”: Decades later, still no answers in slaying of Black trans woman |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/her-death-sparked-transgender-day-remembrance-22-years-later-still-n1233809 |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> – 28 November 1998) was a [[transgender]] [[African American]] woman who was murdered in [[Allston]] ([[Boston]]), Massachusetts, on November 28, 1998.<ref>[http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=music&sc2=features&sc3=&id=83392 ‘Remembering Rita Hester’] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115154933/http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment |date=2013-01-15 }} November 15, 2008, Edge Boston</ref> |
”’Rita Hester”’ (30 November 1963<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-15 |title=”Everybody knew Rita”: Decades later, still no answers in slaying of Black trans woman |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/her-death-sparked-transgender-day-remembrance-22-years-later-still-n1233809 |access-date=2025-11-07 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> – 28 November 1998) was a [[transgender]] [[African American]] woman who was murdered in [[Allston]] ([[Boston]]), Massachusetts, on November 28, 1998.<ref>[http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=music&sc2=features&sc3=&id=83392 ‘Remembering Rita Hester’] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115154933/http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment |date=2013-01-15 }} November 15, 2008, Edge Boston</ref> |
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Latest revision as of 09:15, 1 February 2026
Trans woman (1963–1998); murder inspired Transgender Day of Remembrance
Rita Hester (30 November 1963[1] – 28 November 1998) was a transgender African American woman who was murdered in Allston (Boston), Massachusetts, on November 28, 1998.[2]
Hester was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1964. She moved to Boston in her early twenties and became involved in the local rock community.[3]
Hester was murdered on November 28th, 1998 in her home.[4] She had been stabbed twenty times by an unknown assailant.[3] In response to her murder, an outpouring of grief and anger led to a candlelight vigil held the following Friday (December 4th) in which about 250 people participated. The vigil was led by Rev. Irene Monroe.[4] The community’s struggle to see Rita’s life and identity covered respectfully by local papers, including the Boston Herald and Bay Windows, was chronicled by Nancy Nangeroni.[5] Her death also inspired the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and the Transgender Day of Remembrance,[6] founded by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999.
The city of Boston commissioned artist Rixy to paint a mural memorializing Hester in Allston.[7] The mural was completed in July 2022.[8]
The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond includes several quotes from people who knew her: “Rita Hester was statuesque and glamorous. Usually clad in her favorite colors, black and purple, perhaps in a slinky tube dress adorned with ruffles, she was a familiar figure both at Allston bars such as the Model Cafe and the Silhoutte Lounge and at Jacque’s Cabaret.” Another friend fondly remembered that Hester “liked to wear opera-length gloves with rings on top, big pieces of costume jewelry”. p.283
