The former home of Pauli Murray, activist, advocate, and Episcopal priest has been designated a national historic landmark.
From the Duke Chronicle in Durham, NC:
The National Park Service recently named the Pauli Murray home at 906 Carroll Street in Durham a national historic landmark.
A civil and women’s rights activist, Murray helped found the National Organization for Women in 1966 and was the first African American women to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. In her honor, the Duke Human Right’s Center sponsors the Pauli Murray Project, which aims to tackle inequality in Durham.
Program Director Barbara Lau explained that the nomination of Murray’s family home was a collaborative effort, involving the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
“We work to lift up her life and legacy and try to keep her work going,” Lau said.
Restoration work has been going on to shore up the house and demonstrate that it can be preserved for future generations. The group that has been taking care of the work, and advocating for Murray’s recognition, hopes that the interior restoration will be complete in time to open the house to the public in 2020.
Letters from congressional representatives, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the president of the National Organization for Women also helped their cause. …
“This seems like a bright spot in what could have been a not so great year,” Lau said.
Read more about Murray’s home becoming a national historic landmark in the Duke Chronicle. Find out more about Pauli Murray, Episcopal saint, here.
Photo: By Carolina Digital Library and Archives [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons