This letter between iconic lawyer and activist Pauli Murray (1910-85) and then-first lady Eleanor Roosevelt is a prime example of the struggle to be heard for the black woman in America, as well as the ways in which Murray approached this impasse. 

Roosevelt and Murray maintained consistent correspondence over the course of the Roosevelt presidency, with Murray often responding to the actions of Pres. Roosevelt or First Lady Roosevelt’s newspaper column, “My Day” (this letter references Murray’s thoughts on a July 1944 speech). Here she comments upon “usual high standards” Roosevelt displayed with the press, and refers to her with clear affection, concluding the letter with, “More power to you!”

This relates directly to the question of the role of the intellectual activist in black liberation movements, and whether the establishment could in fact be included. Murray through this letter displays a willingness to attempt to include the establishment in structural change, a less conventionally radical stance (James Baldwin, for example, writes in No Name In the Street that “all attempts at dialogue between the subdued and the subduer, between those placed within history and those dispersed outside, break down.”)

Murray does, however, express extreme dissatisfaction with the higher education system with respect to law school admissions; she expresses frustration at Harvard Law School’s hesitation to admit her seemingly solely on the basis of her gender (“The men are so apologetic on this thing, they’re no help at all. They act like Harvard is sacrosanct and can do no wrong. It’s the most childish attitude I ever heard of.”) In fact, Murray ultimately attends Yale Law School. The oppressive relationship between black women and the higher education system is not uncommon beyond the 1940’s; Audre Lorde notes her own feelings of frustration and lack of belonging during her own college years at Hunter College in the 1950’s in Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Murray chose to appeal to the establishment, less typically radical, to advocate for radical causes. She straddles the space between radicalism and trying to achieve credibility and status within the system as well.