Vagabond, Dude, Crusader

This article argues for an increased utilization of tools from the field of transgender studies when analyzing primary source material from Pauli Murray's archive. It attends to three specific examples from the 1920s and 1930s—one set of oral history recordings, a short story, and one poem—that have been analyzed by previous scholars, but without the benefits of a trans studies lens. Application of a trans studies lens is particularly important here as the 1930s and 1940s was when Murray most actively expressed—in photography, creative writing, and in engagements with medical systems—their gender nonconformity and cross-gender sense of self. Adding this perspective enhances our understanding of how these memories and later creative works shaped Murray's growing sense of broader social justice issues and participation in early Civil Rights activism.

1920s-1930s · African American women · civil rights activism · Gender nonconformity · oral history recordings · Pauli Murray · Poetry · short stories · Social justice · transgender studies · Gender and Feminist Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Race, History, and American Society