Pauli Murray's America Unit 11

Learning Objective:

Students will analyze how different forms of oppression affect individuals differently based on their identities, and explain Pauli Murray’s critiques of the civil rights movement from the perspective of Murray’s identities.

Key Civics Themes: 

• Foundations of United States Government: Review the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. How does it address the intersecting oppressions that Pauli Murray critiqued? How do identity-based movements, such as the feminist movement and civil rights movement, shape U.S. government policy–now or at different points in the past?

• Rights and Responsibilities: Every individual is entitled to civil rights, but historical and systemic barriers have limited access based on race, gender, and other identities. Examine the gaps in civil rights advocacy and who was excluded.

• Role of the Individual: Murray argued that the civil rights movement largely centered on race while sidelining gender and other intersecting oppressions. Analyze Murray’s arguments and cite evidence from your knowledge of the civil rights movement to support Murray’s claims.

• Power and Politics: Discuss the ways in which Pauli Murray challenges traditional power structures. Consider how political systems influence the fight for rights and justice, and how political decisions today reflect (or don’t) past struggles for rights.

• Active Engagement: Consider current fights for equality. What current movements reflect Pauli Murray’s vision of inclusive justice? Draft an inclusive civil rights policy that addresses some aspect of intersectional oppression.

Photo Credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Gift of Milton Williams Archives, © Milton Williams

Activities:

• Read pages 11-13 in “Pauli Murray: Overcoming Jane Crow." 

  1. What is Jane Crow, and how does Pauli Murray argue that it is manifested?

  2. In the speech, Pauli Murray argues that “Negro women should seek to communication and cooperate with white women whereverpossible.” Do you agree with this assessment? Explain your reasoning.

  3. How have the relationships between a) Black women and Black men, and b) Black women and white women changed since 1963?

• Introduce Audre Lorde: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/audre-lorde or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkAzqad0gE. 

  1. What does Audre Lorde mean by, “There is no hierarchy of oppressions”?

  2. In what key way(s) does Audre Lorde’s philosophy differ from that of Pauli Murray in regard to the oppression that Black women (and lesbians) face?

  3. How does the idea of intersectionality challenge the way society often categorizes discrimination (e.g., race vs. gender vs. sexuality)?

• Read, or listen to, Lorde’s poem, “There Is No Hierarchy of Oppressions”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1pNsLsHsfs

• Introduce Lorraine Hansberry: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/lorraine-hansberry or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOu3DgAAmHo 

  1. What unique experiences of women and Black people in the United States does Hansberry raise in her letter?

  2. How do the experiences mentioned by Hansberry connect with Pauli Murray’s definition of “Jane Crow”?

  3. Read pages 15-16 in “Pauli Murray: Overcoming Jane Crow." 

• Primary Source analysis of Pauli’s critique of the civil rights movement through primary source letters, and the list of demands from the March on Washington and NOW. Read pages 3-10 in “Pauli Murray: Overcoming Jane Crow.” 

1. In what areas do the demands of both the 1963 March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom and the 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality intersect with one another?

2. What did Black women in particular stand to gain from both of these demonstrations?

3. What are some of Bayard Rustin’s critiques of the women’s rights movement? 

4. What are some of Pauli Murray’s critiques of the Civil Rights Movement?

5. What is Pauli Murray’s solution for resolving these differences today?

6. List of Demands for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and the 1970 Women’s Strike for Equality.

7. “Feminism and Equality” by Bayard Rustin, August 27, 2970, and Personal Letter from Pauli Murray to Bayard Rustin, September 9, 1970.

• Reflection and independent writing prompt:

  1. Ask students to think about examples of Jane Crow today. Are the experiences mentioned by Hasberry, Lorde, and Murray still features of everyday life for women abd people in the United States?  (Use the article, “Foster Care as Punishment: The New Reality of Jane Crow” as an example for students.)

  2. What examples have you (students) seen, or experienced, as examples of Jane Crow today. Follow Pauli Murray’s method from “Notes to Self” and questions for doctors.