The wait is over! After first being reviewed in October by the Advisory Board of the National Park System, we’ve received official word from the Department of the Interior that Secretary Sally Jewell has approved the Pauli Murray Family Home as a National Historic Landmark!

We are rejoicing in this news with our partners, the Pauli Murray Project and the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites, the many scholars, activists, elected officials, religious leaders, and advocacy organizations from across the country that wrote in support of the nomination, and the 2,700 individuals who signed our petition urging Secretary Jewell to designate the home an NHL.

Stephanie Meeks, our president and CEO articulated the significance of the designation this way:

“Pauli Murray was an accomplished human rights activist, historian, attorney, poet, and teacher who believed in justice, reconciliation, and freedom. And yet her deep and far-reaching legacy has been mostly obscured and unheralded. Honoring her childhood home as a National Historic Landmark is a vital step toward ensuring her many contributions are never forgotten. This recognition will energize our efforts to reopen the home as a center for history and social justice and bring greater attention to Pauli Murray’s legal scholarship and activism against discrimination.”

Though incredibly gratified to reach this milestone, our work to make the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice is far from over. Find out how you can help here, and stay tuned for more information about an NHL plaque dedication at the home in spring 2017!