Pauli Murray
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Biography
Pauli Murray (1910 - 1985)
*Note: due to the differing nature of queer language in Murray’s life, it’s difficult to know how they would have self-identified if they were alive today. This poster will use they/them/theirs pronouns, but academics use a wide range of pronouns when discussing Murray to reflect their gender queerness.
Pauli Murray is remembered as a remarkable legal scholar, activist, author, poet, and Episcopal priest. As a queer-identifying and Black individual of the twentieth century, Murray broke racial and gender boundaries necessary for the advancement of human rights in the United States.
After graduating from Hunter College in New York City, Murray began a 1938 letter writing campaign to enter graduate school at The University of North Carolina before the university was racially integrated. In 1940 in Virginia, Murray was arrested and imprisoned for refusing to sit in the back of a public bus. A year later, they entered Howard Law School, where they would graduate at the top of their class but become profoundly aware of their positionality as both a Black person and as a female-presenting person. Murray coined the term “Jane Crow” to describe their experience, which would later contribute to the academic definition of intersectionality. Rejected from Harvard Law due to sexism, Murray would attend the University of California to receive a Master of Laws degree. After graduation, Murray returned to New York City. Their book, States’ Laws on Race and Color was published in 1951, to which NAACP leader Thurgood Marshall described as the “Bible” for civil rights litigators. In 1960, Murray traveled to Ghana to explore their cultural roots and teach law. Upon their return, they enrolled at Yale Law School’s JSD program. John F. Kennedy appointed Murray to the Committee on Civil Political rights. Murray continued to work in both the Civil Rights Movment and the feminist movement, but found that neither appropriately highlighted the lives and struggles of Black women. In 1977, Pauli Murray became the first Black woman in the United States to become an Episcopal priest. Murray died in Pittsburgh in 1985 of cancer. Since their death, more of their works have been published posthumously, as well as academic publications about their life and contributions. The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice in Durham, North Carolina continues the work of Murray and honors their legacy through historical programming, education, arts and activism.