Rita Hester

Rita Hester (1963 to 1998) was an African American transgender woman and a well-known figure in the nightlife and music scene of Allston, Boston. On November 28, 1998, she was found stabbed in her apartment and died shortly after. Her case was never solved. Coverage that misgendered her, along with the broader pattern of unpunished violence against trans people, galvanized activists. In 1999, advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith launched the 'Remembering Our Dead' web project and held a candlelight vigil in San Francisco in Hester's memory. That vigil grew into Transgender Day of Remembrance, observed each November 20 to honor trans people killed by anti-transgender violence.