Community Research Project

Image
Students working together

The Pauli Murray Project gathered undergraduate and graduate students from Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Brown University, UNC-Greensboro, and AmeriCorp to conduct research that lays the groundwork for educational K-12 curriculum for our new exhibit, Pauli Murray: Imp, Crusader, Dude, Priest. The exhibit opens August 21, 2015 at the Cameron Gallery at The Scrap Exchange in Lakewood Shopping Center, six blocks from Pauli Murray’s childhood home.

This curriculum will connect students to local and state histories of human rights work and inspire activism in the next generation through Pauli Murray’s compelling life story. During the first two-week intensive, nine students researched state competency standards and worked with local elementary and middle school teachers to test and develop curricular themes. They participated in a workshop about the techniques and practices from the museum education field and they learned how to facilitate focus groups. Then they synthesized what they discovered into a framework for the curriculum and a set of implementation strategies. This research sets the stage for the development of relevant and effective classroom curriculum. It builds relationships through which we can engage teachers from across our community in public, private, and charter schools.

Two Moxie Scholars from the Southern Oral History Program at UNC and graduate students from Brown University and UNC Greensboro will continue developing this curricula over June and July so that will be ready for the August 2015 Exhibit opening.

Schools and Community partners

Image
People sitting on a table in a meeting
  • Lakewood Montessori Middle School
  • Pearsontown Elementary School
  • Hope Valley Elementary School
  • Levine Museum of the New South

About : Pauli Murray

Image
Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray, 1910-1985, was an accomplished American activist who believed in justice, reconciliation, and freedom. She championed the cause of human rights through her work as an author, educator, lawyer, feminist, poet and priest. As a woman, a person of color, a worker, and a member of the LGBTQ community, Murray refused to see herself restricted by the categories of gender, race, class and sexuality. Instead, she aspired to an integrated body, mind, and spirit that required a holistic sense of self. This lofty aspiration spurred a life of energy and creativity that helped transform American society.

The Exhibit centers on a historical timeline of Murray’s life, exploring her accomplishments and philosophies about social justice. It includes photographs of Murray in various stages of her life, many of her writings, and a clip from a video interview she did in 1977 with Charles Kuralt. A traveling exhibit, it was first installed at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte. It is scheduled to be in Durham August 21 – December 12 and will be free and open to the public. Visit this website for more information about the exhibit: http://sites.fhi.duke.edu/paulimurrayproject/