Women’s History Month
Pauli Murray

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Our Women’s Empowerment Committee is proud to recognize, civil rights and women’s rights advocate, Pauli Murray for Women’s History Month.

Pauli Murray 
1910 – 1985

Inspiration:
As a teenager in 1940 she was arrested in VA for refusing to move to the back of a public bus, but more notably, as a law student she crafted a legal paper and argument that sought to overturn the “Separate but Equal” ruling on segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson. Previous attempts to overturn the ruling always focused on the “equal” part of the ruling, but Ms. Murray’s argument focused on the “separate” part of the ruling, and she argued that separate accommodations violated the 13th and 14th amendments of the Constitution. This argument was relied upon by Thurgood Marshall when arguing in front of the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, in which the Supreme Court formally ruled that segregation was unconstitutional.

Quote:
“As an American I inherit the magnificent tradition of an endless march toward freedom and toward the dignity of all mankind.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_Murray