Pauli Murray's America Unit 6

Learning Objective:

Students recognize the cultural and biological limitations that prevented Pauli Murray from equal access, opportunity, and self-expression, and analyze how those limitations informed their positing of Jane Crow.

Key Civics Theme: 

Rights and Responsibilities: While in their 20s, Murray sought answers from physicians about why their own biology didn’t seem to match their desired self expression. Students can analyze the questions Murray posed to their physicians, and identify the rights Murray was denied due to cultural and biological limitations, such as gender, race, and sexuality, as well as discriminatory laws and policies. Consider how these restrictions highlight a failure to uphold basic human rights, and how Murray’s questions might be answered today. What is our responsibility to fellow humans when it comes to supporting self-expression?

Photo Credit: The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University

Activities:

• Lens on Endocrinology and Identity: Primary source analysis from Pauli Murray’s “Notes to Self” from the Pauli Murray Papers collection at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute Schlesinger Library: 

Pauli Murray's Prepared Questions for Dr. Titley. December 17, 1937

TYPED PLAIN TEXT of Pauli Murray's Prepared Questions for Dr. Titley

Memorandum on Pauli Murray (1). July 13, 1942Pauli Murray's Letter to Dr. Ruth Fox, July 25, 1942Letter from Dr. Ruth Fox to Pauli Murray. July 31, 1942

How do Pauli Murray’s questions to Dr. Titley in 1937 connect to today?

How would you describe the “seat of conflict” that Pauli Murray mentions in question 7? “Where do you think is the seat of the conflict - in the brain, the body, the glands - or where?”

What experiences have Pauli Murray had that might prompt (in question 19) positing “questions about race conflict”?

Which question stands out to you? Why?

• Reflect on the “Pronouns and Pauli Murray” document from the Pauli Murray Center:

Pronouns and Pauli Murray

Why do you think the topic of pronoun usage is important when studying Pauli Murray? 

When we analyze the past, it is important to understand the historical context and the language of the time period. What might be the dangers of assigning today’s language to the past? 

• Students analyze the following primary sources with the lens of understanding from Pauli’s questions prepared for Dr. Titley, the Memorandum on Pauli Murray, and Pauli Murray's letter exchange with Dr. Ruth Fox:

Letter from Pauli Murray to Thurgood Marshall, NAACP. April 13, 1940Letter from A. Calvert Smith, Howard University, to Pauli Murray. July 12, 1944Letter from Pauli Murray to A. Calvert Smith, Howard University. July 20, 1944Letter from Pauli Murray to T. R. Powell & James P. Conant, Harvard Law School. July 20, 1944