The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray (1910–1985) was a poet, writer, activist and lawyer. She was the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest. She is regarded as one of the most important social justice advocates of the twentieth century. She fought tirelessly for civil rights, women’s rights, and gender equality. Among her many accomplishments, Rev. Murray was a Senior Lecturer on Constitutional Law in Ghana, was appointed by President Kennedy to the President’s Committee on the Status of Women, was the first African American to receive a J.S.D. degree from Yale, served on the National Board of Directors of ACLU, was a Founding Member of National Organization of Women, and was a tenured Professor at Brandeis University. She wrote several books including her autobiography Song in a Weary Throat: An American Pilgrimage (1987). In 2012, she was elevated to the status of sainthood by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

More information and resources about this fascinating and powerful woman are below:

The Pauli Murray Center

National Museum of African American History & Culture

The New Yorker: The Many Lives of Pauli Murray

Women and the American Story: Pauli Murray

The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina

A Song of a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage