Transgender issues, particularly bathroom policies in Northern Virginia public schools, have gotten elevated attention during the 2025 election campaigns. But a Virginia historian says trans people made headlines in Loudoun County nearly 100 years ago.
“Her presence as a witness drew more attention than the murder that occurred,” said Norfolk State University history professor Charles Ford about one of the witnesses at the trial of George Crawford. A Black man, Crawford was accused of murdering two white women in Middleburg in the early 1930s.
The controversial witness was Hanna Nokes, a Black trans woman, who, according to local reports, wore a dress, wig and beaded necklace while testifying in support of Crawford. While Crawford’s trial was sensational in its own right, Nokes’ presence in the courtroom made headlines across the state.
“She’s portrayed as a shadowy sort of madam figure, and none of it was true,” Ford said.
After the trial, Nokes appears again, but this time in a newsletter for the Rural Electrification Agency, a product of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. where she’s described as “noted throughout the countryside for her industry, honesty, and good.”
“All the right pronouns, all the respect. She’s a fabulous employee who's making the new America,” Ford said.
As transgender people continue to be subject to political gamesmanship, Ford hopes those who hear about Nokes can understand something he’s found in his own research
“Trans people always existed, they’ve been categorized as different types of people, but we’re not just a figment of today’s imagination," Ford said. "We do have a history, all of us, in all parts of Virginia.”
You can read more about the commonwealth’s LGBTQ history in Ford’s book “Queer Virginia: New Stories in the Old Dominion.” He'll discuss the book at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at noon at the Library of Virginia.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
