Pauli Murray, the nonbinary Black activist, lawyer, priest, and poet, will be honoured with a quarter in the next round of the US Mint’s American Women Quarters Program, making Murray the first Black queer person to appear on US currency. Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson said, “All of the women being honoured have lived remarkable and multi-faceted lives, and have made a significant impact on our Nation in their own unique way.” Born in 1910, Murray questioned their gender and is now understood as nonbinary, grew up in Durham, N.C., and became a lawyer and activist against sexism and racism. Murray’s quarter will be issued in 2024 alongside Patsy Takemoto Mink, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Zitkala-Ša, and Celia Cruz.
Murray graduated at the top of their class from Howard University School of Law. Murray’s book States’ Laws on Race and Color, published in 1951, was described by civil rights lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall as the Bible for civil rights litigators. In the 1950s, Murray joined the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton, and Garrison, where they met their longtime partner, Irene Barlow, who was office manager there. Murray served on the Committee on Civil and Political Rights as part of President John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.
Murray taught an American studies program at Brandeis University from 1968 to 1973. In 1973, following Barlow’s death, Murray entered General Theological Seminary, and in 1977 they were the first Black person perceived as a woman to become an Episcopal priest in the US. Murray wrote several books, including a poetry collection, an autobiography, and a volume on the government of Ghana. Their life and significance were chronicled in the documentary film My Name Is Pauli Murray, released in 2021.