Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Pauli Murray Documentary to Screen at All Saints Church

Pasadena’s Racial Justice and LGBTQ+ Ministries collaborate on Black History Month film series

The first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest will come to life on screen at All Saints Church on Friday, February 6, when the church screens “My Name is Pauli Murray,” a documentary about the trailblazing civil rights lawyer now honored as an Episcopal saint.

The screening is the opening event of “February Freedom Film Fridays,” a collaboration between the church’s Racial Justice and LGBTQ+ Ministries that examines the intersection of queer and racial liberation during Black History Month. That Murray’s story is being told at an Episcopal church—the same denomination where Murray made history in 1977—adds particular resonance to the evening.

Murray, who died in 1985, was a legal scholar whose work shaped landmark civil rights law. Thurgood Marshall called Murray’s book on segregation laws “the bible of the civil rights movement,” and Ruth Bader Ginsburg listed Murray as a co-author on a legal brief she presented to the Supreme Court. Murray was also queer, and historians have recently debated whether Murray should be considered nonbinary or a transgender man based on personal writings.

The 2021 documentary, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and holds a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It traces Murray’s journey from being arrested in 1940 for sitting in the whites-only section of a Virginia bus—15 years before Rosa Parks—to becoming a co-founder of the National Organization for Women and, later, an Episcopal priest.

The Episcopal Church added Murray to its calendar of saints in 2012, and in 2024, Murray was featured on U.S. quarters as part of the American Women Quarters series.

Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and the screening begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Guild Room at All Saints Church, 132 North Euclid Avenue directly across from Pasadena City Hall. The film runs 91 minutes and is rated PG-13. Light snacks will be provided. Admission is free. For questions, email lgbtq.ascpas@gmail.com.

The film series continues on Fridays throughout February with additional screenings focused on the intersection of queer and racial liberation, according to the church.

“The Racial Justice Ministry’s mission is to challenge bias and racism in ourselves and in our communities,” the ministry states on its website. The LGBTQ+ Ministry’s mission is to bring about “Radical Inclusion both at All Saints and in the wider world.”

In Murray, those missions converge.