Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice Aims to Continue Legacy of Durham Civil Rights Icon

T he first time Angela Thorpe Mason heard of Durham Civil Rights activist Pauli Murray was close to 10 years ago. Her reaction was one of confusion, curiosity, and complete awe culminating in a question: “Why have I never heard of Pauli Murray?”

At the time Mason was a contract curator with the Museum of Durham History, working on an exhibit on the history of the baseball card. Stuck in a rut, she visited the Scrap Exchange where a Pauli Murray exhibit was on display. The exhibit inspired the current project she was working on—and Pauli Murray also stayed with her.

“This is certainly a full circle moment,” says Mason, now the executive director for The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice . “It’s wonderful that Pauli has stood on my shoulder now for a decade.”

The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice, located in Murray’s childhood home at 906 Carroll Street, opened its doors to the public on September 7 following almost 10 years of renovation.

Built in 1898 by Murray’s maternal grandparents, the house was slated for demolition for many years, Mason says. A few different organizations oversaw the property until the center was established in 2012. Community support and fundraising— including a $1.6 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—have contributed to its rehabilitation.

Born in 1910, Murray was a pioneering queer lawyer , writer, priest, activist, and passionate scholar of gender, race, and equality. Throughout their life, Murray questioned their gender, changing their birth name of Anna Pauline to the androgynous Pauli upon graduating from Hunter College in 1933. They were repeatedly denied gender-affirming medical care. (In this story, the INDY is using gender-neutral pronouns, per the Pauli Murray Center, though Murray’s family members also use she/her.)

Murray’s identity and interests were radically broad. Now, the Pauli Murray Center’s goal is to welcome people of all identities—and to make sure that everyone has heard of Pauli Murray.

The center is on the National Register of Historic Places, and Mason hopes it will be a generative space for the Durham community. People can come sit on the house’s porch, she suggests, or gather in the rooms Murray grew up in, pursuing work aligned with Murray’s visions. One group that frequents the center is the Affordable Housing Building Collective, a group working to reimagine home models, that draws inspiration from Murrary’s legacy.

The center will also facilitate programming grounded in social justice, Mason says, and will continue partnering with different organizations to provide resources to Durham residents. One ongoing partnership is with the North Carolina Bar Foundation, which has helped provide pro bono services to members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“Pauli was so expansive that there is a point of entry for almost anyone to connect with Pauli,” Mason says.

Rosita Stevens-Holsey, Murray’s oldest living niece, grew up visiting Murray from Washington, DC. The nation’s capital became a meeting place for most of their family, and Stevens-Holsey says one of her fondest memories was seeing Murray with their guard down.

Stories on Pauli Murray from the archives

“I saw her put her feet up, smoke a cigarillo, smoke a pipe, which is not something she did often or probably in public, but she was a smoker like my mother,” Stevens-Holsey says of her aunt, who she says was a lover of dogs and reading.

Stevens-Holsey would regularly mail letters to Murray, who would mail them back with red circles, correcting grammar and punctuation.

“It was a family thing,” Stevens-Holsey says. “They were always exceedingly interested in education, proper English, proper etiquette. But I was drawn to her, especially because of her brilliance.”

Both Stevens-Holsey and Murray were travelers. Stevens-Holsey has visited 49 states and 50 countries and, like Murray, travels to explore new topics and learn about different cultures. But while Murray’s travels took them all over, their family home in Durham has become the heart of their legacy.

West End, the historically Black and working-class neighborhood where Murray grew up, is rapidly changing, Mason says—making the responsibility to maintain the history of the home and neighborhood all the more important. The center is held in a land bank, meaning it is preserved, but Mason says parts of the neighborhood that aren’t in the land bank are being redeveloped.

Mason sees the center and the West End neighborhood as sacred space. Growing up in Edgecombe County, herself, and the descendant of enslaved people, the center’s history means everything to her.

“I think it’s really important to ground folks in the reality of what and who was here,” Mason says.

Stevens-Holsey says she had what she considers her “Pauli Murray epiphany” almost a decade ago. It was 2016 and she’d traveled to Durham; at a church event, everyone shared stories about Murray.

“I became overwhelmed,” Stevens-Holsey says. “I’ve never been in a situation where someone, not only that I knew, but someone who was a part of my family, was held in such regard.”

Stevens-Holsey heard from people who personally knew Murray and people who were just influenced by their work. People came up to Stevens-Holsey asking to touch her because she had the same blood as Murray and shared stories of how Murray made them feel.

“I started having an out-of-body experience,” Stevens-Holsey says. “It just all came over me. I was amazed.”

Mason knows that with Murray’s legacy, there is also a great responsibility. She doesn’t take it lightly.

“It’s a space that I steward with great care, and it feels like a privilege to steward,” Mason says. She says she hopes the center will be “a center for history and social justice.”

“Not a museum, not just a historic site,”  Mason continues, “but a place where we can leverage history to catalyze people to move contemporary social justice and social change work forward.”

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