Pauli Murray

“Ground-breaker, activist, strategist, and saint, Pauli Murray has been celebrated for the many ways in which she shaped the women’s movement and the long civil rights movement. Her fiery activism was fueled by the founding traumas of both the black experience, broadly, and her own family history. Bringing together her emotional complexity and her brilliant drive to make better things possible, this book is an elegantly crafted account of Murray and the complex, wrenching world on which she made her mark.” —Adriane Lentz-Smith, author of Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I

“Until recently, there has been very little written about Pauli Murray, and Saxby has made excellent use of her voluminous papers to dive into her life story. He shows how Murray worked to fashion a coherent sense of self, providing important insights into how her private life related to her public endeavors.” —Susan Hartmann, author of The Other Feminists: Activists In The Liberal Establishment

“In recent years, we’ve been able to learn much more about the incredible life and work of Pauli Murray. She gave all that she could to make the United States confront its failure to live up to its own creed of liberty and justice for all. Now, Troy Saxby’s new biography of Murray helps us to understand both the personal cost and the existential sources of her courage. If suffering and struggle are the fates that make us more human, Murray’s courage and faith in the face of pain and despair teach us the gritty truth of how one woman became not only a hero for humanity but a modern saint.”—Edward E. Baptist, author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism

“This detailed biography on an underrated social and political activist results in an ambitious undertaking by Saxby, whose emphasis on Murray’s private life tells a history of trials based on personal experiences and records.”—Library Journal

“There’s so much to glean from this book, so many milestones Saxby says Murray set, that you almost can’t stop reading despite watching the discomfort, obvious pain, and inner struggle she endured. Through letters and articles she wrote, readers get to know Murray as she perceived herself. Those personal peeks are engrossing, especially given the legacy she left. . . . Any reader who wants to know more about social justice pioneers should get a bead on it.”—The Washington Informer