Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray
b. 1910 - 1985
I intend to destroy segregation by positive and embracing methods. When my brothers try to draw a circle to exclude me, I shall draw a larger circle to include them.
- Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray
Pauli Murray was an American civil rights activist, lawyer, author and later priest. Drawn to the ministry, in 1977, Murray was the first Black woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest, in the first year that any woman was ordained by the church.
Pauli influenced Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Eleanor rosevelt. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited Murray as a co-author of a brief on the 1971 case Reed vs. Reed, in recognition of her pioneering work on gender discrimination.”
Dr. Murray, born in Baltimore, became orphaned when very young. She was raised by her maternal grandparents in Durham, North Carolina from age 3 until 16. Her home is now designated as a National Historic Landmark and is being managed by a community group called the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. (Wikipedia)
“The Episcopal Church has raised…Pauli Murray to its pantheon of “Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints” in 2012. She was sainted for her advocacy of the universal cause of freedom.” (https://today.duke.edu/2012/07/saintmurray)