The Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray was an African-American civil rights activist, who was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus in Petersburg, Va. 15 years before Rosa Parks; and she organized restaurant sit-ins in Washington, D.C. 20 years before the Greensboro sit-ins. She was one of the most important thinkers and legal scholars of the 20th century, serving as a bridge between the civil rights and women’s rights movements.
And yet today, not many would recognize the name of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray – let alone her indelible impact on American law, civil rights and women’s rights. As a black, queer, feminist woman, Pauli Murray has been almost completely erased from the narrative. It is time she was recognized.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1910 to a family lineage that included free blacks, African-American slaves, Native Americans, and white slave owners, Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray escaped family struggles, racial discrimination, and poverty, through education. Since there were four generations of public school teachers in her family this seemed only natural. Two early experiences in her life must have strongly influenced her motivation to study and achieve academically and to work for those who face social and economic barriers.