A trailblazer for civil rights and a pioneering figure for Black women and the LGBTQ community, Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray is now emblazoned on the latest quarter.
The design encapsulates the priest’s unwavering conviction that profound societal transformations could be achieved when anchored in the power of hope. Encircling her likeness is an inscription drawn from her poetic work, “Dark Testament,” characterizing hope as “A SONG IN A WEARY THROAT,” a poignant metaphor that resonates with her indomitable spirit and resilience in the face of adversity.
“It was amazing. It was truly like an out-of-body experience,” Rosita Stevens-Holsey, Pauli’s oldest living niece, told ABC 11.
“She created space where there was none, and Pauli saw the deficits in society; she saw that there was not space for Black people to live liberated lives, there was not quite space for women to live full lives,” said Angela Mason, executive of the Pauli Murray Center situated in West Durham, North Carolina.
The scholar received national publicity after she was denied acceptance to the all-white University of North Carolina in 1938, a case that connected her to Eleanor Roosevelt. An arrest during a sit-in inspired Murray to pursue a career as a civil rights lawyer. After becoming the sole woman in her law class at Howard University, Murray’s legal acumen proved influential, impacteing luminaries like Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She co-founded the National Organization for Women and became the first Black woman ordained as an Episcopal priest. She died in 1985.
Source: Black Enterprise
