No doubt it’s a sign of the times, but the beginning of “My Name Is Pauli Murray” has the feel of a cordial Zoom visit, albeit one in scratchy black and white. As Pauli Murray smiles into the camera in a closeup, she stage whispers to her black Lab to lie down, then she tells him again and another time after that. Instead, he pokes his muzzle into the frame. Murray’s smile widens into the warm, toothy expanse she was known for. The moment creates a personable foundation between the viewer and one of the titans of human rights. One too few know. Directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s documentary should go a long way in remedying that.
There have been books about Murray: Patricia Bell-Scott’s “First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice” and Rosalind Rosenberg’s...
There have been books about Murray: Patricia Bell-Scott’s “First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice” and Rosalind Rosenberg’s...
- 2/2/2021
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
The greatest revelation in “My Name Is Pauli Murray,” a new documentary about the poet, writer, activist, labor organizer, legal theorist, and Episcopal priest whose ideas shaped legal arguments for both race and gender equality, is that what made Murray so keenly attuned to the burdens of inequality — being Black, queer, and assigned female at birth — are the very things that robbed Murray of the recognition they so deserve. That is, until now.
Recent years have seen Murray sainted by the Episcopal Church, a Yale residential college established in their name, and the publication of two biographies: “The Firebrand and the First Lady” (2016), about Murray’s decades-long friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, and “Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray” (2017). “My Name Is Pauli Murray” draws on this research — as well as a crucial re-contextualizing from transgender community leaders — to deliver an accessible and proper tribute to Murray’s astounding life and work.
Recent years have seen Murray sainted by the Episcopal Church, a Yale residential college established in their name, and the publication of two biographies: “The Firebrand and the First Lady” (2016), about Murray’s decades-long friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, and “Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray” (2017). “My Name Is Pauli Murray” draws on this research — as well as a crucial re-contextualizing from transgender community leaders — to deliver an accessible and proper tribute to Murray’s astounding life and work.
- 2/2/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
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