Pauli Murray, a lawyer, social activist, and writer, was the first African American woman to earn a law degree. She earned her undergraduate degree from Howard University in Washington DC and earned both her J.D. and LL.M. degrees from Harvard Law School
She was the first woman to be admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1947, becoming one of the few African American lawyers at that time to practice law in the state of Massachusetts. She is best known for her involvement in the case "Doe v. Bolton." In 1957, Congress passed the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), which became part of the U.S.
Constitution on June 25, 1972; it states that "equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
In not a single one of these little campaigns was I victorious. In other words, in each case, I personally failed, but I have lived to see the thesis upon which I was operating vindicated. And what I very often say is that I’ve lived to see my lost causes found.Pauli Murray
Hope is a song in a weary throat.Pauli Murray
