Women's Quarter Series: Pauli Murray

 

Pauli Murray: The Intersectional Pioneer

"Give me a song of hope
And a world where I can sing it.
Give me a song of faith
And a people to believe in it.
Give me a song of kindliness
And a country where I can live it.
Give me a song of hope and love
And a brown girl's heart to hear it."
[excerpt from Dark Testament]

Another quarter to be inspired by this week! And yet, another amazing person I've never even heard of, which makes me sad. But this is one of the reasons I'm writing this US quarter series! So that I don't remain in the dark. 

It seems fitting, as we move into Pride month in the U.S., to share about Pauli Murray. Murray's life and work are a testament to the power of resilience and the profound impact one person can have on multiple fronts of social justice. In her twenties, she shortened her name to be more androgynous--from Pauline to Pauli. At the time she lived pronouns were still standardized but Murray was self-described with family as a "he/she personality" and had even asked doctors to do exploratory surgery on her to see if she was intersex. Likely because it was dangerous and illegal during the 20th century to be openly queer, Murray most commonly used she/her pronouns, so this is how I will refer to her. However, I encourage you to do your own research if you'd like to know more about the personal side of her gender identity.

Below are some interesting facts about her social and civil rights work.

Contributions spanned civil rights, feminism, law, and literature. You can hear her read an excerpt of her published volume of poetry, Dark Testament, here on the Harvard website.

Thurgood Marshall called Murray's book "States' Laws on Race and Color" the "bible" of the civil rights movement and John F. Kennedy, appointed Murray to the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.

 Murray graduated first in the class of 1944 from Howard University but she was denied the chance to do post-graduate work at Harvard University because of her gender. Murray was even rejected despite a letter of support from sitting President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She wrote in response, "I would gladly change my sex to meet your requirements, but since the way to such change has not been revealed to me, I have no recourse but to appeal to you to change your minds. Are you to tell me that one is as difficult as the other?"

Murray was the first African American to earn a J.S.D. from Yale Law School but also the first African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest.

She addressed the intersections of race, gender, and economic status long before "intersectionality" was coined.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg named Murray as a coauthor of the ACLU brief in the landmark Supreme Court case Reed v. Reed.

Three different photos of Murray during different stages of her life.

 * An explanation on the label from the photo on the right that has "The Imp!" written on it. She wrote this on the photo herself. It's said that Murray was engaging in more than word play; she was exploring self outside the constraints of conventional identity categories. It is said, "The Imp!" provided temporary escape from confinements of many types, a chance to imagine herself as not of this world and so not thwarted by it. She also labeled other photos of herself as "The Crusader" and "The Dude." 

https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1256&context=etd