In 1938, Pauli Murray applied for admittance to a graduate program at UNC-CH. She was denied acceptance because of her race. With her eloquent words and tenacious determination, she confronted the legal segregation of pubic education. This panel explores her struggle from multiple viewpoints and weighs the relevance of her observations and analysis to the policies and events of today.

Panel Participants:

Glenda Gilmore, Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History, Yale University

Leslie Brown, Assistant Professor of History, Williams College

Jim Leloudis, Associate Dean for Honors, and Director
of the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Jerry Girshenhorn, Associate Professor of History, North Carolina Central University

Anne Firor Scott, Professor Emeritus of History and Women’s Studies, Duke University

Moderator: Genna Rae McNeil, Professor of History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Panel Sponsors:

Center for the Study of the American South, UNC-CH

Pauli Murray Project at the Duke Human Rights Center

Wilson Library, Friends of the Library, UNC-CH

UNC Women’s Center