Amazon Studios debuts first trailer for powerful doc ‘My Name is Pauli Murray’

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There’s an unmissable new documentary headed our way thanks to Amazon Studios — a film about one of the nation’s most overlooked heroes, Pauli Murray. My Name is Pauli Murray is set to hit theaters on September 17 and will be available on Prime Video on October 1.

Directed by Betsey West and Julie Cohen, and produced by Talleah Bridges McMahon, the documentary highlights a life dedicated to achieving equality for all Americans and reveals some little known truths about its subject. 

While many have heard the name Pauli Murray, few folks understand just how much the boundary-pushing freedom fighter did for our country and our community. The trailblazing activist, writer, priest, and attorney may finally get the respect they deserve. 

The official synopsis reads: “Fifteen years before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat, a full decade before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned separate-but-equal legislation, Pauli Murray was already knee-deep fighting for social justice. A pioneering attorney, activist, priest and dedicated memoirist, Murray shaped landmark litigation—and consciousness— around race and gender equity. As an African American youth raised in the segregated South— who was also wrestling with broader notions of gender identity—Pauli understood, intrinsically, what it was to exist beyond previously accepted categories and cultural norms. Both Pauli’s personal path and tireless advocacy foreshadowed some of the most politically consequential issues of our time. Told largely in Pauli’s own words, My Name is Pauli Murray is a candid recounting of that unique and extraordinary journey.”

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The film debuted at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and has already received rave reviews from critics. It features Patricia Bell-Scott, Dolores Chandler, Brittney Cooper, Sonia Pressman Fuentes, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Marghretta McBean, Ernest Myers, Mary Norris, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rosalind Rosenberg, Karen Rouse Ross, Reggie Sapp, Honorable Inez Smith Reid, Chase Strangio, and Raquel Willis and examines Murray’s life and work, largely informed by papers housed at the Schlesinger Library.

It touches on Murray’s gender identity, the influence they had on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, their friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, and the unique experiences endured by those at the intersection of race and gender which Murray called “Jane Crow.”

Check out the official trailer below: 

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