Pauli Murray's America Unit 10

Learning Objective:

Students will connect McCarthyism (the Red Scare) with the Lavender Scare and explore possible reasons for Pauli Murray and their contemporaries to be under federal investigation.

Key Civics Themes: 

• Foundations of United States Government: Explore the Red Scare, the fear of communism that led to widespread government crackdowns on suspected radicals, anarchists, and communists, and the Lavender Scare, which targeted LGBTQ individuals, particularly in government employment, under the belief that they were security risks susceptible to blackmail. Investigate the ways in which both scares highlight how the U.S. government, at times, diverged from its foundational principles by using its power to surveil, control, and discriminate against citizens. Consider the struggle to balance security and personal liberty throughout history. What personal liberties do we forfeit in order to support our national security? (TikTok!) 

• Rights and Responsibilities: Investigate how these scares conflicted with the First Amendment’s protections of free speech, and the principles of equality protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. 

• Role of the Individual: Examine the different ways in which individuals like Murray, Baldwin, Rustin, Roosevelt, and Kameny, resisted unjust policies, and advocated for the protection of their (and others’) rights. How did activists, like Frank Kameny, who fought against government discrimination, embody the responsibility to advocate for civil rights despite personal risk?

• Power and Politics: Explore the idea of a “moral panic,” and investigate how societal fears in the 1950s were weaponized by the federal government to enforce conformity and marginalize vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ individuals, undermining democratic inclusivity. Make connections to these scares and Murray’s attempts to find employment with the federal government. 

• Active Engagement: Research contemporary parallels (for example, post-9/11 surveillance and security policies) and analyze how rights and responsibilities are negotiated today. Host a debate on the balance between security and civil liberties, using the Red Scare and Lavender Scare as case studies.

Activities:

• Pauli Murray was denied a position with the State Department at Cornell University because their references, including Eleanor Roosevelt and Thurgood Marshall, were considered “too radical.” Based on your research into the FBI files below, what was perceived as “radical”? 

  1. Bayard Rustin: https://vault.fbi.gov/bayard-rustin

  2. James Baldwin: https://vault.fbi.gov/james-baldwin/James%20Baldwin%20Part%2001/view

  3. Eleanor Roosevelt: https://vault.fbi.gov/Eleanor%20Roosevelt

  4. Thurgood Marshall: https://vault.fbi.gov/Thurgood%20Marshall

  5. Pauli Murray: https://archive.org/details/fbeyesmurraypauli8128/page/n5/mode/2up

• Watch The Speech that Launched the 1950s Red Scare / McCarthy. PBS (4:57): https://mass.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/amex31m-soc-speechredscare/the-speech-that-launched-the-1950s-red-scare-mccarthy/

• Watch the movie trailer for The Lavender Scare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuIYssjmlv0

• Cite a primary source included in Unit 10 that is an example of the following:

  • the federal government’s attempt to impose conformity

  • government overreach

  • attempt to discredit ideas the government and people in power find threatening

  • fear of an informed citizenry