U.S. Mint Released Quarter Honoring Murray’s Achievement
Washington, D.C.–The National Organization for Women (NOW) is celebrating the release of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray Quarter with a panel discussion and reception to honor Rev. Dr. Murray, one of NOW’s co-founders and a trailblazing advocate for civil rights, feminism, and intersectional justice. NOW is partnering with the Pauli Murray Center and Howard University School of Law to honor Rev. Dr. Murray’s legacy and the significance of the U.S. Mint Quarter release.
“During a time when our rights are being curtailed, we celebrate Rev. Dr. Murray’s legacy, from her groundbreaking work in the social justice movement to her advocacy for gender equality,” said NOW National President Christian F. Nunes. “The inclusion of Rev. Dr. Murray as the first Black queer person on any American currency is a testament to her relentless fight for justice. We stand on her shoulders as we continue her fight for equality.”
Tonight’s invite-only panel discussion and reception, at the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership, will feature pioneering women from academia, government, and social justice organizations, including Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rev. Dr. Murray’s niece, Rosita Stevens-Holsey, and Angela Mason, the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice Executive Director.
“I am so proud to be part of tonight’s event to not only celebrate my aunt’s contributions but to educate our community about her unrelenting commitment to equality,” said Stevens-Holsey. “I appreciate the dedication by NOW, the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice, the U.S. Mint, and involved congressional members to ensure that my aunt’s work is not forgotten through the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray Quarter.”
“The Pauli Murray Center is pleased to partner with NOW to honor Rev. Dr. Murray and the quarter commemorating her work,” said Mason. “Our shared commitment to continue Rev. Dr. Murray’s fight for justice and gender equality has never been stronger than it is today.”
Rev. Dr. Murray spurred the creation of NOW during a 1966 conference in Washington, D.C. on the status of women. Conference organizers informed Rev. Dr. Murray and her colleagues that they had no authority to pass a resolution calling for an end to sex discrimination in employment. That evening, a group of twenty women, including Rev. Dr. Murray, met to plan NOW’s founding. In fact, she argued that Black women had the most to gain from an ERA, showing the intersectionality between sex discrimination and race discrimination.
Rev. Dr. Murray co-authored NOW’s original Statement of Purpose, one of the first declarations of intersectionality as a social justice goal.
It read: “We realize that women’s problems are linked to many broader questions of social justice; their solution will require concerted action by many groups…Therefore, convinced that human rights for all are indivisible, we expect to give active support to the common cause of equal rights for all those who suffer discrimination and deprivation, and we call upon other organizations committed to such goals to support our efforts toward equality for women.”
“The common cause of equality inspires us to push past obstacles and fight for our equal rights,” said Nunes.
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