FHI | Simon Fisher, “Writing Pauli Murray History in the Twenty-First Century: The Impact of Transgender Studies"

Please join us for a lecture by Simon Fisher (Dalhousie University). This lecture is part of a collaborative program hosted by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI), the Duke Human Rights Center (DHRC), and the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice (PMC).

The PMC engages diverse communities to lift up the life and legacy of activist, legal scholar, feminist, poet, Episcopal priest and LGBTQ community member, Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, to tackle enduring inequities and injustice in our nation.

The Center began as the Pauli Murray Project: a public humanities, community-based initiative of the Duke Human Rights Center at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (DHRC@FHI) aimed at promoting open dialogue among Durham residents about the pressing issues of our time and their historical roots; documenting hidden stories of social justice activism; celebrating Pauli Murray's life and legacy and continuing their work for social change. Now an independent nonprofit organization that operates a National Historic Landmark site (the Fitzgerald home, Pauli's childhood residence), the Center connects experiences of the past to contemporary human rights issues, inspiring visitors of all ages to be like Pauli, by standing up, speaking out and taking action based on their principles.

"Writing Pauli Murray History in the Twenty-First Century: The Impact of Transgender Studies"

Focusing on primary documents in Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray "PM Medical" archival folder, Dr. Simon Fisher will explore how transgender historiography sheds new light on these documents within the context of several intersecting histories: African American history, history of medicine, feminist history, and queer and transgender history. He will discuss the narrative arc of the presence of transgender identity within Pauli Murray historical studies from the turn of the twenty-first century to the present, and highlight the current federal efforts to erase Murray's Black, queer, and transgender activist histories from the nation's public memory.

Dr. Simon Fisher teaches United States history at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. His research on Pauli Murray has appeared in the Journal of African American History, Transgender Studies Quarterly, the SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies, and was featured on the podcast BackStory.

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