Pauli Murray
Lawyer, Author
1910 – 1985
Who was Pauli Murray?
The Reverend Dr. Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray was an American civil rights activist, women's rights activist, lawyer, and author. She was also the first black woman ordained an Episcopal priest.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Murray was raised mostly by her maternal grandparents. At the age of sixteen, she moved to New York to attend Hunter College, graduating with a B.A. in English in 1933. In 1940, Murray was arrested with a friend for violating Virginia segregation laws after they sat in the whites-only section of a bus. This incident, and her subsequent involvement with the socialist Workers' Defense League, inspired her to become a civil rights lawyer, and she enrolled at Howard University. During her years at Howard, she became increasingly aware of sexism, which she called "Jane Crow", the sister of the Jim Crow racial segregation laws. Murray graduated first in her class, but was denied the chance to do further work at Harvard University because of her gender. In 1965 she became the first African American to receive a J.S.D. from Yale Law School.
As a lawyer, Murray argued for civil rights and women's rights.
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- Born
- Nov 20, 1910
Baltimore - Religion
- Episcopal Church
- Ethnicity
- African American
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- University of California, Berkeley
- General Theological Seminary
- Howard University
- Hunter College
- Lived in
- Pittsburgh
- Died
- Jul 1, 1985
Pittsburgh
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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"Pauli Murray." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/pauli_murray>.
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