Pauli Murray Center Awarded Grant by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray’s legacy and vision for a just and equal world will be amplified by a $1.6 million, 3-year grant by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. Since 2012, the Pauli Murray Center has worked to lift up the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, a twentieth-century human rights activist, legal scholar, poet, Episcopal priest, and multiracial Black, LGBTQ+ community member.

Murray’s expansive vision, their activism, and scholarship resonate more deeply today than ever before: her national visibility is growing exponentially at the same moment that our country is re-examining its history and collectively imagining a more inclusive future. “This is a transformational moment for the Pauli Murray Center,” shared executive director Barbara Lau,“ a moment when the world needs to be introduced and inspired by Murray’s vision and the Pauli Murray Center is ideally situated to radiate this powerful narrative from Durham, NC to the world.” Only 2% of the 95,000 entries in the National Register of Historic Places focus on the experiences of African Americans. Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray’s family home place highlights important, yet underrepresented, African American and LGBTQ+ stories.

Through the investment from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Pauli Murray Center will expand staff capacity to design and install inaugural exhibits at the historic site. “Over the last ten years, the Center has built a strong foundation,” Board Chair Mayme Webb-Bledsoe reports,“and this infusion of resources will significantly grow the scope of our programs and impact.” The Center will host innovative educational programming that responds to the Rev. Dr. Murray’s call to work intersectionally—inclusive of race, class, sexual orientation, gender, and faith; to connect history and humanities to contemporary life and to inspire creative thinking and rigorous social justice activism.

Grant funds will also support the completion of the renovation of the National Historic Landmark Pauli Murray childhood home and commission of public art on the property. This investment will also ensure the entire site at 906 Carroll Street is fully accessible and will transform a 1920’s duplex on the property into the Center’s Education & Welcome Center.

The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice was incubated at the Duke Human Rights Center/John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University. To realize a world in which wholeness is a human right for all, not the privilege of a few, the Pauli Murray Center actively works toward fairness and justice across divisions such as race, class, sexual and gender identity, and spiritual practice that often divide us. The Center embraces the transformative power of collecting and telling our stories and our truths as a process that heals long-standing divisions and promotes human rights.

For more information, contact Barbara Lau at executivedirector@paulimurraycenter.org

Reflections on Just Conversations by Kim Gaubault (McCrae)

I remember the immediate connection I felt with ME when I found out about Pauli Murray, who she was and how she chose to show up in the world. The legacy to which she tirelessly committed herself gave me permission to be seen and heard in a world that prefers to invisibilize those considered to be a 'problem'. Because of choices she made and uncomfortable/uncommon conversations she made room for, my Black womanhood has agency, not because of permission given, but because I am. The members of the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice have committed themselves to a mission and vision that represent the heart of the Rev Dr. Pauli Murray. The Center's programming consistently calls forth the wisdom and presence of this mighty ancestor and Just Conversations is one of the latest iterations of this insightful and intentional space-making.

Just Conversations gives voice to some of the more complicated societal dynamics that are inevitable and present in places where social justice is centered. Through setting the intention to dive deeply into the ways that being human impacts how we show up when we are forced to face our own challenge areas, Just Conversations requires accountability of the compassion and awareness we say we have as it pertains to diversity, equity and inclusion. What a courageous way to call us into Pauli Murray's own definition of community. Murray said, "True community is based upon equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. It affirms the richness of individual diversity as well as the common human ties that bind us together." Welcome to an opportunity to come face to face with who you really are, the good, the bad and the ugly. Welcome to the conversation!