Pauli Murray's America Unit 9

Learning Objective:

Students will discover Pauli Murray’s contributions to legal education in Ghana, and evaluate primary sources that reveal Pauli motivations for living and working abroad.

Key Civics Themes: 

• Foundations of United States Government: How might Pauli Murray have reconciled the fact that Murray did not enjoy all the freedoms and liberties promised in the US Constitution but was able to educate and promote the promise of American Democracy in Ghana?  

• Rights and Responsibilities: What are the rights and responsibilities of American citizens living abroad? What role did Pauli Murray’s activism in the US play in their experience living and teaching in Ghana? 

• Role of the Individual: How did individual Americans work to share the ideas of equality, rule of law, and/or democracy, internationally? 

• Power and Politics: Highlight Ghana’s political context in 1960, shortly after its independence from British colonial rule, and discuss how Pauli Murray’s work in Ghana contributed to the country's postcolonial legal and constitutional framework and how this aligned with broader movements of decolonization and self-determination. Analyze Baldwin’s writings to uncover how Baldwin’s international perspective allowed him to reimagine systems of justice and equality. Consider the ways in which systemic racism, colonialism, and homophobia shaped the lives and work of Murray, Baldwin, and Rustin.

• Active Engagement: Ask students to examine how multiple identities (e.g., race, gender, sexuality) affect civic engagement. Students can create multimedia projects (e.g., videos, podcasts) to explore how these intersections impact political representation today.

Activities:

• In 1960, Murray traveled to Accra, Ghana to explore their African cultural roots and teach constitutional law. While there, Murray co-wrote The Constitution and Government of Ghana, with Leslie Rubin. – In what ways was this experience another opportunity for Pauli Murray to leave their mark? How did Murray’s lifetime experience and resilience to being “othered” prepare them for this teaching opportunity? 

Listen to Pauli Murray discussing their time in Ghana in an interview with Genna Rae McNeil, February 13, 1976, for the Southern Oral History Project, University of North Carolina:

Ghana Recording Transcript 

1. 1. How did Murray’s experience in Ghana work to influence and solidify their political beliefs? 

   2. Traveling to Ghana was the first time Murray left the United States. How do you think Murray’s experiences in the United States prepared them for being the first woman to teach at Ghana School of Law?

• Read “On Teaching Constitutional Law in Ghana”

1. 1. What challenges did Pauli Murray face in building a constitutional law course in Ghana? 

   2. Murray writes: “I told them I did not want them to memorize rules of law- I wanted them to learn how to analyze a legal problem and to use their own powers of reasoning. I warned them to be skeptical of everything I said about American Constitutional Law and English Constitutional Law, and to remember that they were the Jeffersons, Madisons, etc. of their day; that upon their shoulders might well rest the future constitutional history of Ghana.” How might Murray’s “otherness” in Ghana have influenced the approach Murray took to teaching Constitutional Law? 

   3. How might Pauli Murray have reconciled the fact that Murray did not enjoy all the freedoms and liberties promised in the US Constitution but was able to educate and promote the promise of American Democracy in Ghana?  

   4. At the end of Murray’s time teaching, a student remarked, “... We used to accept without questioning whatever the lecturer said. Through your class, we have learned to inquire." What were some methods Murray used to support this independent research and inquiry? 

• Examine: From Woodruff Archive–image of announcement of Ghana