Paulie Murray, a pioneering civil rights activist who spent much of his youth in Durham, will appear on U.S. quarters in 2024, the U.S. Mint announced Wednesday.
The Murray quarters were issued as part of the Mint's American Women's Quarters program, which began last year and includes "obverse (tail) coins that reflect the achievements and contributions of American women."
"The diverse ethnic, racial and geographic groups of people honored by this program reflect diverse achievements and fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, aerospace and the arts," it said. in the statement. reading the program…
Called "one of the 20th century's greatest advocates for social justice" by The Mint, Murray is known for her work as a poet, writer, lawyer and activist, and for being the first black woman in the United States who was ordained to the rank of bishop.
Murray spent his childhood in Durham
Murray was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1910, but moved to Durham at a young age to live with his aunt and grandparents.
Murray graduated from Hillside High School in Durham in 1926 and then moved to New York to attend Hunter College, graduating in 1933 with a degree in English literature.
In 1938, Murray applied to graduate school and studied sociology at the then-white UNC-Chapel Hill, but was denied admission because of his race.
Murray then went to law school at Howard University, where she was the only woman in her class and where she coined the term "Jane Crow" to describe the oppression she faced as a black woman. He graduated from Howard in 1944 at the top of his class.
During the 1930s, according to the Pauly Murray Center, Murray "questioned" her gender and sex and repeatedly sought hormone therapy and exploratory surgery from doctors to examine her reproductive organs.
Murray's legacy in the Triangle and beyond
Throughout her life, Murray remained active in the civil rights and equality movement, as well as other social justice movements.
â–ª His research paper provides ideas for Brown v. The Board of Education, a landmark case that desegregated schools, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited Murray as inspiration when she used the 14th Amendment to challenge sex discrimination in Reed v. to dismiss Reed.
â–ª In 1966, Murray co-founded the National Organization for Women with Betty Friedan and others, although she later distanced herself from a leadership role because she felt the organization was "inadequately addressing the issues of black women and the working class." Center Pauly Murray writes.
â–ª In 1977, Murray became the first black woman in the United States to be ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. Murray presided over his first Holy Eucharist at the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, where his enslaved grandmother attended church but was confined to the balcony.
Murray died in 1985 aged 74.
Locally, Murray's legacy lives on in the Triangle at the Pauley Murray Center for History and Social Justice, located in Murray's childhood home in Durham, 906 Carroll St.
Last May, the Durham School Board voted to name the district's new elementary school in Murray's honor.
A feature-length documentary about Murray, My Name Is Paulie Murray, will be released in 2021 and will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
What will happen in the Pauley Murray area?
Quarter designs for the 2024 honorees of the American Women Quarters program will be released in mid-2023, the Mint said in a statement.
Mint describes the program's coins as "little works of art in your pocket."
The obverse, or obverse, of the program coin features a portrait of George Washington, although the design differs from the usual point, with the late president facing right instead of left. The portrait was originally painted by Laura Gardin Fraser, who describes Minto as "one of the most prolific sculptors of the early 20th century".
The American Women's Neighborhoods Program runs through 2025 and produces projects for five neighborhoods each year. In addition to Murray, the following women will reach the quarterfinals in 2024:
â–ª Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first black woman to serve in Congress
â–ª Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War surgeon, suffragist and abolitionist
â–ª Zitkala-Å a ("Red Bird") or Gertrude Simmons Bonin, fighter for Indian rights
â–ª Celia Cruz, Cuban-American singer and "one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century"
Previous recipients of the program include poet Maya Angelou, astronaut Sally Ride and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
As the collection points are issued as modifications, they are also available online at catalog.usmint.gov/coins/coin-programs/american-women-quarters-program.
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