Blue Devils bruised after loss to Georgia Tech

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Episcopalians seek honor for Pauli Murray

Three bishops, a dozen priests and about 170 prominent residents squeezed into the red-bricked St. Titus Episcopal Church last week to celebrate the life of one of the city's daughters: an orphaned girl of African-American heritage who grew up in this congregation near N.C. Central University.

That woman, Anna Pauline "Pauli" Murray, rose from humble beginnings to become a historian, lawyer, poet, activist and priest who, during her 75 years, broke so many barriers that there is often not room enough to list them.

This week, as delegates to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA meet in Anaheim, Calif., they will consider a resolution to add Murray's name to its official calendar, alongside the likes of John Wesley, founder of Methodism; Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits; and William Wilberforce, the British politician who led the movement to abolish the slave trade.

Pauli Murray: Social activist and priest

Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, a history professor on leave from Yale University, is John Hope Franklin senior fellow at the National Humanities Center. Her book "Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights" will be published in September by W.W. Norton & Co.

On Nov. 10, 1938, the day after the Supreme Court heard arguments that state universities had to offer graduate education to African-Americans, Pauli Murray requested an application to the graduate school of the University of North Carolina. Murray, then 28 and living in New York, had grown up in Durham and was determined to earn a master's degree in social work at UNC.

New from North Carolina

In 1942 a law student at Howard University visited a class taught by a leading historian. What followed was a fruitful friendship between that scholar, Caroline Ware, and Pauli Murray, a woman raised in North Carolina who would become a labor lawyer, teacher, activist and writer known for her family memoir "Proud Shoes" (1956). "Pauli Murray & Caroline Ware" edited by Anne Firor Scott (UNC Press, $24.95, 194 pages) collects letters they exchanged from 1943 to 1985, which explore issues such as McCarthyism, civil rights and feminism.

Raleigh Hall of Fame inducts 15

The Raleigh Hall of Fame inducted 15 members Thursday night in a ceremony at the Raleigh Convention Center.

The 15 inductees included two couples and two organizations, the Rotary Club of Raleigh and the YMCA of the Triangle. The hall of fame is run by an independent nonprofit organization that has honored 65 people and 7 nonprofit organizations since 2005 for their contributions to the city.

The hall also inducted a new member of the Centennial Hall of Fame, which honors people from Raleigh's earlier history.

Food tax is Durham's big issue

In a season of failing banks, sinking stocks and rising unemployment, voters in Durham County are being asked to support a tax increase.

If approved Tuesday, the 1 percent sales tax would apply to restaurant meals and takeout food, with revenue earmarked for recreational and cultural facilities. With few contested local races, the tax referendum has emerged as Durham's biggest political issue of the year.

Proponents say the tax would provide money to invest in projects that will benefit the local economy, including a minor-league baseball museum, the Hayti Heritage Center and a museum of Durham history; for marketing Durham as a visitor destination; and for workforce training and cleaning up the town. They say the tax would fall proportionately on consumers with more money to spend and will help avoid property-tax increases.