Pauli Murray Center records, 1961-2022, bulk 2004-2022

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Summary

Creator:
Duke University. Center for Documentary Studies, Archive of Documentary Arts (Duke University), Pauli Murray Center, Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute, and Human Rights Archive (Duke University)
Abstract:
Pauli Murray was the first Black person to earn a JSD (Doctor of the Science of Law) degree from Yale Law School, a founder of the National Organization for Women and the first Black person perceived as a woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. The Pauli Murray Center is a non-profit organization located in Pauli Murray's childhood home in Durham, NC. The PMC organizes community projects, walking tours, exhibitions, film exhibitions, and outreach activities, regarding equity and justice.The Pauli Murray Center records collection include materials related to outreach activities, LGBT activism, community projects and oral history projects conducted at Duke University through the Center for Documentary Studies and the Franklin Humanities Institute. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive at Duke University.
Extent:
8 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English
Collection ID:
RL.11019

Background

Scope and content:

The Pauli Murray Center records collection include both community projects and oral history projects from undergraduate courses offered by Duke University through the Center for Documentary Studies and the Franklin Humanities Institute. Contents also include various projects documenting Parrish Street/Black Wall Street in Durham, mapping and documenting civil rights/human rights in Durham, the Still Walking for Justice March, Conferences, Fellowship Proposals, LGBT Activism, and a Brown v. Board of Education anniversary exhibit.

Biographical / historical:

Pauli Murray was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 20, 1910, and then lived with her grandparents in Durham, NC, during her childhood. She attended Hunter College graduating with a degree in English Literature in 1933. Murray's career encompassed a wide variety of activities, she was a teacher, activist, and writer. In 1938, Murray tried to enroll at the University of North Carolina, which did not admit African American students at that time. She conducted a press and letter-writing campaign to protest against the inadmissibility of African American students. Murray then attended Law School at Yale University, where she was the first African American person to earn a JSD (Doctor of the Science of Law) in 1965. Murray was also the first African American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest. According to the Pauli Murray Center, Murray was gender non-conforming, since she "self-described as a he/she personality in correspondence with family members". Pauli Murray died on July 1, 1985.

The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice (PMC) is a non-profit organization established in 2012. It is located in Pauli Murray's childhood home in Durham, North Carolina. The PMC organizes community projects, walking tours, exhibitions, film exhibitions, and outreach activities, regarding equity and justice. The Pauli Murray Center derives from the Pauli Murray Project (PMP) established at the Duke Human Rights Center/Franklin Humanities Institute in 2009.

Bio source: https://www.paulimurraycenter.com/ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/pauli-murray https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/pioneering-pauli-murray-lawyer-activist-scholar-and-priest

Acquisition information:
The Pauli Murray Center Records were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 2013 and 2023.
Processing information:

Processed by: Meghan Lyon, 2015.

Accessions described in this finding aid: 2013-0136

Accession 2023-0168 processed and finding aid updated by Ofelia Lopez.

This collection was previously titled the Pauli Murray Project records, but was changed in 2023 to reflect the changed name of the organization after receiving additional records.

Arrangement:

Arranged into series: Community Projects, Oral History Projects, and Audiovisual/Electronic Media, Barbara Lau Materials, Outreach Activities Related to Pauli Murray, Fellowships and Conferences, LGBT Activism, PMP Vox Pop Records.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Access note. Some materials in this collection are fragile audiovisual formats that may need to be reformatted before use. Contact Research Services for access.

Access note. Some materials in this collection are electronic records that may need to be reformatted before use. Contact Research Services for access.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Pauli Murray Center Records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1wp9n