Aerial photo of the Pauli Murray Center, a blue two-story home with white accents. It's surrounded by trees and a cemetery in the back.

What is the Pauli Murray Center?

An outdoor exhibit on the lawn of the Pauli Murray Center. The signs say: Pauli, Family, and Impact.

The Pauli Murray Center is a nationally significant history site, anchored by Pauli Murray’s childhood home built by her grandparents in 1898 at 906 Carroll Street in Durham, North Carolina. By connecting history to contemporary human rights issues, the Pauli Murray Center will activate visitors of all ages to stand up for peace, equity and justice.

We are open and welcoming to everyone: students, families, visitors to Durham, people of faith, aspiring young LGBTQ activists, civil rights lawyers, divinity school students, artists and poets, history-minded West End neighbors, scholars, and community leaders. Our programming encompasses public history, education, arts and activism. Together we will create the Center as an historic site, incubator, oasis, and sacred space. 

Inspiring activism will lead the way to Pauli Murray’s dream for a just world. It is our hope that the Center will launch the next generation of Pauli Murray firebrand leaders – smart, motivated and determined activists who will demand a world that enables all ideas, amplifies many voices and honors everyone’s contributions.

We are still in the process of becoming a fully operational, visitor-ready site. Over the next few years that will mean completely rehabilitating and making an accessible historic home and education center and building a robust calendar of workshops, on the ground and virtual education; community dialogues and invitations to action that address enduring inequities; and creative arts programming.

Why does the Pauli Murray Center matter?

Black history, feminist and women’s history, LGBTQ+ history, and activist history is important and needs to be remembered and shared widely. “The past is the key of the present and the mirror of the future,” writes Robert Fitzgerald, Pauli Murray’s grandfather in his 1867 diary. Murray understood the power of history and the power of monuments and historic places. Murray’s childhood homestead, like other historic sites, bring these stories to life and preserves them for the future. 

But, only 2% of the 95,000 entries in the National Register of Historic Places focus on the experiences of African Americans. To help to shatter this pitiful statistic, the Pauli Murray Center will be a leader and model to other communities who want to know, share, and lift up the accomplishments and struggles of women; people of color; and trans, non-binary, and queer folks in their communities and beyond. 

Inspiring activism will lead the way to Pauli Murray’s dream for a just world. It is our hope that the Center will launch the next generation of Pauli Murray firebrand leaders—smart, motivated and determined activists who will demand a world that receives all ideas, amplifies many voices, and honors everyone’s contributions.

The Pauli Murray Center is impactful.

  • Named National Treasure by National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2015

  • Designated National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 2016

  • More than 60 annual engagement programs for thousands of diverse participants

  • For ten years, the Pauli Murray Center has helped the world learn about Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray through presentations, publications, and on social media

The Pauli Murray Center leadership is connected to communities across the country.

  • National campaign to become a national historic landmark with 30 support letters and a petition with 2500+ signatures

  • Robust calendar of online and in-person tours, dialogues, exhibitions, and educational programs

  • 3k newsletter subscribers and around 10k followers on social media

  • Filming site for the documentary “My Name Is Pauli Murray

  • Contributor to the official discussion guide for “My Name Is Pauli Murray”

The Pauli Murray Center is collaborative.

The Pauli Murray Center is growing exponentially.

  • $3.8 million raised since 2009

  • More than a thousand donors from 25 US states and Canada