How does the historically impossible become reality? As Wolcott notes, some in the civil rights movement "lived their utopian dreams, creating small communities that modeled Bellamy's vision." "But it is striking how little known utopian practices and ideas are in the civil rights movement's public image and in many scholarly works." You open with an anecdote about Coretta Scott giving …
The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. The newest documentary from “RBG” director duo Julie Cohen and Betsy West, “My Name Is Pauli Murray” follows with detail the life of Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray. A queer and gender nonconforming Black poet, civil rights lawyer, priest and activist, Murray’s history is one of firsts — …
Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West first came across the name Pauli Murray while working on their Oscar-nominated documentary “RBG.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg had written “Pauli Murray” on the front cover of her first women’s rights brief before the Supreme Court to give credit for the idea she’d be arguing. Cohen and West track the extraordinary life of this little-known …
