Ich bin Pauli Murray

I watched this documentary last night about the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray.

I had never heard of this amazing person before and that is really sad. I strongly recommend this film.

Having the courage to be exactly who they were. Speaking up about gender identity, segregation and equality in the 1930's into the 1970's.

I learned so much and was so surprised that they are not included as a central character in the history of the civil rights along.

"A look at the life and ideas of Pauli Murray, a non-binary Black lawyer, activist and poet who influenced both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall."

This documentary is excellent in showing how white women supported black women and how black men did not support black women with respect to black women's civil rights as women--a balanced intersectional analysis that is generally ignored in other recent documentaries on black history and/or women's history.

I subtracted one star because (like other historical documentaries on black history and women's history) it went into graphic detail about INTERcommunity racial violence against black men, but did not go into graphic detail about INTRAcommunity gender violence against women of all races perpetuated within their own communities (i.e. Coverture, marital rape, femicide, human trafficking, etc.)

I also subtracted one star because they glossed over Murray's brilliant "Jane Crow" analysis, in which she demonstrated how the arguments to keep blacks and women in an inferior status are the same. The filmmakers kept the two issues of race and sex discrimination apart, but Murray rightly connected them, which is one of her most brilliant intellectual contributions to legal theory.

Pauli Murray was a unique individual who transcended race and gender.

She struggled with the limits that a racist and sexist society imposed on her.

She went through so many transitions during her life from hopping on freight trains during the Great Depression to teaching at Yale and finally becoming an Episcopal priest.

This is a fine and sensitive documentary giving a close and intimate portrait of this fine human being. As some mentioned during the documentary we should all know who Pauli Murray was. She was ahead of her time and a beacon for a better humanity.

(why this is rated so low on IMDb (6.1 as of this writing) is beyond comprehension.)

This documentary portrays a woman of extraordinary drive, compassion, reason and intelligence. Yet she been an unknown to me until this superbly-constructed documentary becaame available. Kudos to the creators for finding her and making her come alive. How many unrecognizable heroes are out there? I need to open my eyes and find the beautiful and the brave around me.

The documentary format has been through a transformation in the last few years and there are tropes and conventions that, if used too frequently or without care, can become wearisome. The worst that can be said of this documentary is that it manages to avoid doing those things. The best thing about it is undoubtedly it's subject matter - the life of Pauli Murray. I think it would not be unreasonable to state that, even if this film were poorly constructed and clumsily sequenced, we should watch it regardless because we would learn about the extraordinary life of Dr. Murray. The fact that it is compelling, beautiful and intelligently presented makes it worth 90 minutes of everyone's time. So, seek it out and watch it. Pauli Murray deserves it - and so do you.