“In not a single one of these little campaigns was I victorious. In other words, in each case, I personally failed, but I have lived to see the thesis upon which I was operating vindicated. And what I very often say is that I’ve lived to see my lost causes found.”
― Pauli Murray
I’ve started writing a book on one of the most inspiring, least-known people in history. Like skipping a pebble on a pond, Pauli Murray touched off ripples that led to waves of change still cresting even today.
You’ve probably never heard of Pauli – but you should have. Born in the North Carolina in 1910, Pauli’s whole life was a series of “firsts”. She was first in her class at Howard University Law (and the only woman), the first African American to earn a J.S.D. from Yale Law School, the first African-American women ordained as an Episcopal priest, and co-founder of the National Organization for Women.
Her writings alone would make her noteworthy. She’s authored numerous books and even
poetry. But it took both her ideas and her actions to spark the wildfire that ultimately led to
legal doctrines that overturned the racist inequities caused by the “separate but equal”
doctrine and laid a foundation for women’s rights as well.
Pauli displayed a plethora of traits of an exemplary leader. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Activist. She never shied from controversy nor dodged a difficult challenge. She literally starved but refused to quit Hunter College while living in Depression-era New York City. She was jailed for refusing to sit in the back of the bus two decades before Rosa Parks. She stood on picket lines with labor organizers.
- Introspective. Pauli struggled mightily with her gender identity throughout her life. She likely was transgender or a lesbian and it appears her greatest love was a white woman. She tried valiantly to understand herself, even suffering breakdowns at times. The science and the culture of the times did not afford her any validity, much less any answers.
- Diligent. Pauli knew that she had to do the “Ginger Rogers” moves throughout her life, meaning do everything a man could do backwards and in heels, or as she put it, push past the “Jane Crow” norms of her times. She embraced hard work and exhibited an intensive commitment to excellence necessary to craft persuasive positions that would triumph over tradition and existing power structures. When asked to write a pamphlet for the United Methodist Church on segregationist laws, she produced a 746-page book – a book later used by Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to ground the famous Brown vs. Board of Education ruling that ended the separate but equal doctrine. Likewise, a law review article co-authored by Pauli became the basis of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s arguments that the constitution’s Equal Protection Clause applied to women.
One of the many distinct challenges faced by women leaders is a lack of stories of sheros who showed us the way through the hole in the glass ceiling. Women leaders like Pauli Murray need to be known and valued, for what they did and for the legacy they lived and left behind.