The Firebrand and the First Lady

The Firebrand and the First LadyBy: Patricia Bell Scott NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE The riveting history of how Pauli Murraya brilliant writer turned activistand First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt forged an enduring friendship that helped to alter the course of race and racism in America. A definitive biography of Murray, a trailblazing legal scholar and a tremendous influence on Mrs. Roosevelt. Essence In 1938, the twenty eight year old Pauli Murray wrote a letter to the President and

By: Patricia Bell-Scott     

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NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE • The riveting history of how Pauli Murray—a brilliant writer-turned-activist—and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt forged an enduring friendship that helped to alter the course of race and racism in America.

“A definitive biography of Murray, a trailblazing legal scholar and a tremendous influence on Mrs. Roosevelt.” —Essence

In 1938, the twenty-eight-year-old Pauli Murray wrote a letter to the President and First Lady, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, protesting racial segregation in the South. Eleanor wrote back. So began a friendship that would last for a quarter of a century, as Pauli became a lawyer, principal strategist in the fight to protect Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and a co-founder of the National Organization of Women, and Eleanor became a diplomat and first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.