Women’s History Month
Pauli Murray
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.”