Challenging Dissemblance in Pauli Murray Historiography,
Sketching a History of the Trans New Negro
Simon D. Elin Fisher
In 1940, Pauli Murray and Adelene “Mac” McBean were the first African
Americans to use nonviolent direct action to challenge Jim Crow segregation,
protesting their placement in the back seat on a Greyhound bus traveling to
visit Murray’s aunts in Durham, North Carolina. Just three years earlier, be-
fore Murray had met Mac through their work in Harlem, Murray was hospi-
talized after a mental health crisis. Her doctor, famous African American phy-
sician May E. Chinn, arranged for Murray to stay at the Long Island Rest
Home, where she would meet with doctors Chinn thought could help get to
the root of what Murray called “my conflict.”
1
The term “conflict” captured
Simon D. Elin Fischer is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of
Wisconsin–Madison.
I am grateful to Brenda Gayle Plummer, Finn Enke, Elspeth Brown, Jake Pyne, Jessi Lee Jackson,
Lindsay Elin, and the anonymous readers for reading and providing feedback on earlier drafts of
this manuscript.
1. Previously, I have used s/he pronouns when discussing this period of Murray’s life, because
it was evident to me that, if given the option, Murray would have used he pronouns at this time.
However, Murray later in life identified more as a woman and, I believe, would have chosen to
use she pronouns if given the option. As this was the case when she died, I have chosen to use she
pronouns out of respect for this latter choice. In her biography of Murray, Rosalind Rosenberg
offers an excellent narrative of her journey in deciding which pronouns to use for Murray in
The Journal of African American History (Spring 2019) ©2019 asalh. 1548-1867/2019/10402-
0002$10.00 All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1086/702437