Dominique Morgan Is Defining Herself In Her Own Words
‘The Street I Grew Up On Is Now Named After Me’ — Trailblazer Dominique Morgan On Pride, Power And Blackness
We couldn’t let Black Women’s History Month end without recognizing the strength, power, and impact of one Dominique Morgan.
If you read her bio, you will learn the following:
As the first Black Trans Woman to serve as Director of the Fund for Trans Generations at Borealis Philanthropy, Dominique raised and distributed nearly $10 million to organizations across the country.
She secured the largest corporate grant in Borealis’ history to launch the Flower Crown Project, a $1 million initiative investing in 10 Black Trans Femmes with both unrestricted grants and $10,000 dream grants focused on joy beyond capitalism.
Dominique is the first Black Trans Woman to be a Black Fox Global Philanthropic Fellow. As a Donor Doula, she helps funders and organizations engage in ethical, accountable, and impactful giving.
But that’s corporate-speak, and if MadameNoire learned anything from our sitdown with her, it’s that Dominique Morgan cannot be defined by a corporate-speak bio.
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“I am born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska,” she told MadameNoire. “North Omaha, Nebraska, specifically, the birthplace of Malcolm X, Gabrielle Union, and Symone Sanders [Townsend].”
That “North Omaha” distinction is important, she said, because of the history behind the way the city of Omaha, Nebraska is divided.
“There was an interstate that went through the middle of Omaha, Nebraska,” she explained. “West [Omaha] became this very white section, and South Omaha was the packing plants, and where most of the indigenous folks and Mexican folks are, and North Omaha is Black.”
“It’s always been very black. The intention was to put the interstate through there to separate black people from opportunity, and I grew up right next to the interstate.”
For Dominique, there is a considerable amount of pride tied to coming from a place that overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
“Nebraska is a very red state, but we have a we are one of the few states where a president can win districts,” she said. “So North President Obama won North Omaha twice, and President Biden won North Omaha. And that electoral vote has always been essential.”
“I’m just proud of where I come from, and North Omaha is very Black, and Black excellence comes from Omaha, and I’m very proud of where I’m from. The street I grew up on is now named after me — Dominique Morgan Street. That means a lot.”
For Dominique Morgan, her Blackness is foundational to who she is.
“It’s not negotiable,” she told MadameNoire.
As a trans person, she sees the importance of embracing trans people who are Black because representation in these spaces is so important.
“If you didn’t grow up in the South or DC or Chicago, and you’re navigating queerness, your quickest representation is white people.”
Dominique grew up in a very Black home, but discussing Blackness in the fullness of the context of what it means to be Black was something her family never really did.
“I saw Black excellence growing up, but I didn’t necessarily relate it,” she said. “I didn’t connect it to Blackness. I didn’t start talking about Blackness till I was in my 30s.”
“My parents met in the freshman year of high school and got married right out of high school. I’m the oldest of four. They were married for 27 years before my father passed away. So like, I grew up in this very loving Black home, but we never talked about race. And that’s not race in the sense of, talking about racism, but race in the sense of talking about how Blackness is beautiful. We never had those conversations, and I think that’s really important.”
Dominique said that when she began having those kinds of conversations in her 30s, she had to undergo some self-examination about her relationship to her own Blackness.
“I had to own and acknowledge my anti-Blackness and how I had been a tool of harm to black people, depending on the spaces I was in,” she said. “I was, at times, unintentionally harmful to Black folks, and possibly intentionally at times, just because you can lean into a tokenism and you want to feel like you’re special. Because of all that, I need to be tenfold as intentional about loving my Blackness.”
Dominique came out as trans in 2020 and moved to Atlanta in 2022, intentionally seeking out Blackness and the type of lived Black experience she wouldn’t be able to get in Omaha, even with all the Black excellence it produces.
“I needed to be on some ground where Black folks have been rooted. I needed to be able to drive past Martin Luther King’s place of birth. I needed to be able to hear, you know, Raphael Warnock give a sermon. I wanted to see Black postal workers. I wanted to see Black doctors. I wanted to see Black excellence on a multitude of levels. And you can’t get that anywhere, in my opinion, but Atlanta.”
In Atlanta, Dominique was able to pour into her relationship with TS Madison, whom she met in 2022 when they were both chosen as Grand Marshals for New York Pride. Together, they launched TS Madison Starter House, which opened on March 31, 2025 — Trans Day of Visibility.
The Starter House “provides housing, resources, and holistic support for Black trans women experiencing sex work, creating a sustainable model for economic and personal liberation.”
Dominique says the Starter House project is close to her heart because, as a formerly incarcerated person, she can relate to the struggle of being released and having to readjust to life on the outside, including finding housing and employment, among other challenges.
“When I got out of prison in February of 2009, my mother helped me get into a rooming house. I hated that space, and I wanted to be near my people,” she said. “And I remember sleeping on the floor at my mom’s house for maybe four months before I got the money to get my own place. Halfway houses not only didn’t feel safe — they definitely didn’t feel safe for someone like me.”
For Dominique Morgan, being Dominique Morgan means being intentional about everything she does. It means owning her story and her narrative — every part of it. It means walking the walk and talking the talk.
Ultimately, when we asked Dominique to sum up who she thinks she is, she provided us with too many quotes to choose from, and quite frankly, we didn’t think it would be right to leave any of them out.
So, in answer to the question, who is Dominique Morgan?
“I never quit. I was homeless. I went to prison at the age of 18. I lost both of my parents before the age of 27.”
“I know I bust my butt in service to Black people, in service to trans people, in service to people who are often overlooked because I was once those people.”
“I don’t want to ever be limited to being one thing. I’m funny. I’m sexy. I’m an auntie. I’m somebody’s daughter. I’m somebody’s cousin. I’m in my 40s, and I guess that’s a cougar to some people. I’m a Nebraskan.”
“I’m a multi-hyphenate not because I want to fill a page, but because I am a full person.”
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