First 'My Name Is Pauli Murray' Trailer Reveals the Pioneering Activist and Attorney

Amazon Studios has just released the first teaser trailer for its upcoming documentary My Name Is Pauli Murray. Although it’s only just under a minute long, it conveys a whole lot of information during that small snippet of time — and it’s all about a person whose name you probably didn’t even know until today. The film will be released theatrically on September 17 before coming to Prime Video on October 1.

Only a handful of the most influential pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States are widely known about, much to society’s detriment. One of the most powerful figures in the movement — a person who inspired the likes of Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the teaser declares — is none other than Pauli Murray.

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“In the fight for equality, there was one person. You may not know the name, but you live in Pauli’s legacy” is emblazoned between shots of peaceful protests from the 1960s and old pictures of Murray throughout their life. Not only does the trailer inform the viewer of who Murray inspired, but it goes on to describe Murray as the “badass, queer, non-binary person” who had a massive impact on the history of the Civil Rights Movement. My Name is Pauli Murray hails from Betsy West and Julie Cohen, the directors of RBG, and was an official selection at the 2021 Sundance Film Review. The film is also produced by Thalia Bridges McMahon.

If you’re eager to see this inspirational story for yourself, it will be available to stream on Prime Video on October 1 and released in theaters on September 17. Check out the teaser trailer below:

Here’s the official synopsis for My Name is Pauli Murray:

Fifteen years before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat, a full decade before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned separate-but-equal legislation, Pauli Murray was already knee-deep fighting for social justice. A pioneering attorney, activist, priest and dedicated memoirist, Murray shaped landmark litigation—and consciousness—around race and gender equity. As an African American youth raised in the segregated South—who was also wrestling with broader notions of gender identity—Pauli understood, intrinsically, what it was to exist beyond previously accepted categories and cultural norms. Both Pauli’s personal path and tireless advocacy foreshadowed some of the most politically consequential issues of our time. Told largely in Pauli’s own words, My Name is Pauli Murray is a candid recounting of that unique and extraordinary journey.

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