Dear friends,

*Pictured: the 2026 Cohort of Pauli Murray Social Justice Teaching Fellows*

In late October, I had the privilege of guiding a global cohort of educators through Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray's childhood home. These educators -- who joined from as near as Durham, N.C. and as far as South Africa and Switzerland -- are leading valuable systems change work in their local communities. They stand alongside the Pauli Murray Center's newest cohort of Social Justice Teaching Fellows, who began their fellowship journey in mid-October.

In North Carolina, and across the United States, the public education landscape is vulnerable. Recent legislation in N.C. has effectively censored stories like Murray's from being shared in our public school classrooms. As I learned this week, educators globally are navigating similar realities. While this is sobering, it is also a reminder of the value of Rev. Dr. Murray's invitation to "draw a larger circle". If we reframe an issues like educational censorship and exclusion as ones that are statewide/national/global, how might that prompt us to expand our collective resistance?

I was honored to learn about the resistance strategies brilliant educators are applying in their local communities, across the nation and across the globe. Furthermore, I was honored to create space for an international cohort of educators to be catalyzed by Pauli Murray's work, and the legacy of the people -- many of whom were educators -- who raised them. Finally, I feel affirmed that the Pauli Murray Center stands as an invaluable resistance space, supporting bold educators as they strive to tell the truth in Durham classrooms. Taken together, this is history and social justice in action.

Onward,

Angela Thorpe Mason
Executive Director
The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice