by Reagan Jackson
A note on she/her pronouns: Pauli Murray lived during a time before it was commonplace to use pronouns to denote nonbinary or trans identities. She expressed dysmorphia to an extent where she underwent exploratory surgery hoping for medical confirmation of undescended testicles to prove that though she appeared to be a woman, she felt, thought, and existed within herself as a man. In this article, I will refer to Pauli Murray as she/her because those were the pronouns she used, but with the caveat that in today’s world Murray likely would have chosen to identify as he/him or they/them.
Pauli Murray is one of the most important figures in modern U.S. history that you might never have heard of — a Black trans lawyer, activist, Episcopal priest, and poet. Often ahead of her time, Murray was a founding member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and went unrecognized for her thought leadership in two court cases that changed the face of this country: Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 case that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and led to integrating schools, and Reed v. Reed, the 1971 case that outlawed discrimination on the basis of sex.
Continue reading OPINION | Light a Candle for Pauli Murray