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Classroom · Grades 9–12

Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray showed that discrimination by race and by sex could compound each other, and built legal arguments that the courts adopted years before crediting their author.

Lesson at a Glance

Grades
Grades 9–12
Time
One class period (20–40 minutes)
Standards
NCSS Themes 4 (Individual Development and Identity), 6 (Power, Authority, and Governance), and 10 (Civic Ideals and Practices); C3 D2.Civ.12, D2.His.3, D2.His.5
Reading
Pauli Murray (profile)

Big Idea

Pauli Murray showed that discrimination by race and by sex could compound each other, and built legal arguments that the courts adopted years before crediting their author.

Before Class

Students read the profile of Pauli Murray, including the Key Dates and Sources.

Discussion Questions

  1. What did Murray mean by “Jane Crow,” and why could neither race law nor sex law alone address it?
  2. Murray’s 1944 seminar paper proposed attacking Plessy v. Ferguson head-on. Why might many lawyers at the time have preferred a slower strategy?
  3. Ruth Bader Ginsburg named Murray as a co-author of the Reed v. Reed brief. Why does credit matter in the history of ideas?
  4. Murray was rejected by the University of North Carolina because of race and by Harvard Law School because of sex. How did those rejections shape Murray’s later work?
  5. Why has Murray’s reputation grown so much since death, and what does that say about whose contributions history records?

Activity

Students read the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and then the profile’s account of three moments in Murray’s career: the 1944 Howard seminar paper, the 1965 article “Jane Crow and the Law,” and the 1971 Reed v. Reed brief. In small groups they chart how the same clause was used to challenge race discrimination and then sex discrimination, and note which court decision eventually adopted each argument. Groups finish by drafting a one-paragraph acknowledgment that gives Murray proper credit for one idea. (30 minutes.)

Primary Sources

Cite this page
MLA
“Classroom lesson: Pauli Murray.” Black-History.com, 30 Sept. 2026, https://black-history.com/classroom/pauli-murray/.
APA
Black-History.com Editors. (2026, September 30). Classroom lesson: Pauli Murray. Black-History.com. https://black-history.com/classroom/pauli-murray/
Chicago
Black-History.com Editors. “Classroom lesson: Pauli Murray.” Black-History.com. September 30, 2026. https://black-history.com/classroom/pauli-murray/.
Editorial Note

By the Black-History.com editors. Last reviewed 30 September 2026. To suggest a primary source or a correction, write to editors@black-history.com or use our corrections form.

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