{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Short description|American transgender activist (1945–2022)}} {{Infobox person | name = Gloria Allen | image = Gloria Allen 2022.jpg | caption = Allen in 2022 | birth_date = {{birth date|1945|08|06}} | birth_place = Bowling Green, Kentucky, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2022|06|13|1945|08|06}} | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | occupation = Transgender activist }} '''Gloria Allen''' (October 6, 1945 – June 13, 2022) was an American transgender activist who ran a charm school for transgender youth in Chicago's Center on Halsted.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/us/gloria-allen-dead.html|title=Gloria Allen, Transgender Activist Who Ran a Charm School, Dies at 76|first=Alex|last=Williams|website=The New York Times|date=June 24, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref>
Allen's school lasted only a few years — she was not paid, and she often used her own money to prepare students' meals — but inspired a hit play, ''Charm'', by Philip Dawkins. Her experiences were chronicled in the documentary film, ''Mama Gloria''.
==Early life== Allen was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky but raised in Chicago. The eldest of eight children, her mother was Alma Dixon, a showgirl and former ''Jet'' magazine centerfold. She transitioned before Stonewall with the support of her mother Alma and her grandmother, Mildred, a seamstress for crossdressers and strippers.<ref name="people"/><ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://dallasvoice.com/obituary-mama-gloria-allen/|title=OBITUARY: 'Mama Gloria' Allen|publisher=Dallas Voice|website=dallasvoice.com|date=June 14, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref> "My mother said she knew and she knew the hard times that were out there for me, but she told me, 'If you have any problem, you can come to me.' And I did," Allen said on the LGBTQ&A podcast.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Mama Gloria Allen Dies at 76: Listen to Her Last Known Interview |url=https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2022/6/09/mama-gloria-allen-chicago-trans-obituary |access-date=2023-02-25 |website=www.advocate.com |language=en}}</ref> "Back then, the trans girls were more committed to each other, helping them out, showing them the things that they need to know. I picked up from that and I learned a lot from the older generation, how to dress, how to socialize with them...They watched over me."<ref name=":2" /> Allen's parents weren't married and she did not have much contact with her biological father.<ref name=":1" />
==Personal life== She lived with an abusive boyfriend for ten years. Allen shot her boyfriend, injuring him, but he never reported it to the authorities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2022/6/15/23170111/mama-gloria-allen-transgender-icon-dead|title=Mama Gloria, inspiration to trans youth across Chicago and beyond, dead at 76|first=Stefano|last=Esposito|publisher=Chicago Sun Times|website=chicago.suntimes.com | date=June 16, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref> She was reportedly involved in several abusive relationships.<ref name="people">{{cite web|url=https://people.com/human-interest/trans-icon-and-activist-mama-gloria-dies-at-76/|title=Beloved Trans Icon and Activist Mama Gloria Dies at 76: 'Forever in the Hearts of Many'|first=Maria|last=Pasquini|publisher=People Magazine|website=people.com|date=June 14, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref>
==Career== Allen worked at the University of Chicago Hospital as a licensed practical nurse and then in private homes as a nurse's aide.<ref name="NBC">{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-community-voices/trans-activist-mama-gloria-allen-dies-76-rcna33501|title=Trans activist 'Mama Gloria' Allen dies at 76|first=Matt | last=Lavietes |publisher=NBC News|website=nbcnews.com|date=June 14, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref>
==Awards== In 2014, Allen received the Living Legend Award at the Trans 100 Awards from transgender activists Janet Mock and Precious Brady-Davis. In 2021, she received the Carmen Vázquez Award for Excellence in Leadership on Aging Issues from SAGE, an advocacy organization for L.G.B.T.Q. elders, at the National LGBTQ Task Force's Creating Change conference.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-mama-gloria-allen-obit-20220614-jevmhx5zb5fsrcfrnpns5jqy6a-story.html|title='Mama Gloria,' Chicago's trans legend, dies at 76|first=Shanzeh| last=Ahmad|publisher=Chicago Tribune|website=chicagotribune.com|date=June 15, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref>
==Death== She died on June 13, 2022, from respiratory failure in her sleep<ref name=":0" /><ref name="NBC"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/06/15/mama-gloria-trans-icon-who-mentored-queer-chicago-youth-with-her-charm-school-dies-at-76/|title=Mama Gloria, Trans Icon Who Mentored Queer Chicago Youth With Her Charm School, Dies At 76|first=Jake|last=Wittich|publisher=Block Club Chicago|website=blockclubchicago.org|date=June 15, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref> at her apartment in Chicago's Townhall Apartments, an LGBTQ senior living facility.<ref name="people" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://dallasvoice.com/obituary-mama-gloria-allen/|title=OBITUARY: 'Mama Gloria' Allen|publisher=Dallas Voice|website=dallasvoice.com|date=June 14, 2022|accessdate=June 25, 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Gloria}} Category:1945 births Category:2022 deaths Category:American transgender rights activists Category:People from Bowling Green, Kentucky Category:Activists from Chicago Category:20th-century African-American women Category:20th-century African-American educators Category:20th-century American educators Category:American transgender women Category:African-American LGBTQ people Category:LGBTQ people from Kentucky Category:Deaths from respiratory failure in the United States Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:Transgender history in the United States Category:LGBTQ people from Illinois