Early Years

Photograph of Pauli Murray as a Child

Murray at approximately three years old

  • She was born in Baltimore, Maryland, November 20, 1910
  • Her mother Agnes Fitzgerald was a nurse before she died in 1914
  • Her father William Murray was a Howard University alumnus and teacher. He died in 1923
  • Murray moved to Durham, North Carolina to live with her aunt and namesake Pauline Fitzgerald Dame
  • Attended Hillside High School, a segregated school for "colored" students
  • Excelled academically and atheletically
    • Murray's courseload was extensive, and unlike some of her classmates, she readily rose to the challenge
    • Played forward for the women's basketball team
Early Years