History

Later, after graduating as the only African American among 4,000 high-school students in New York, Murray studied at Hunter College. She graduated during the Great Depression and became a remedial-reading teacher. Later, she was denied admission into the University of North Carolina Law School because of her race, although several of her white ancestors had been affiliated with the college.

A woman of great resilience, in 1940, Murray was arrested for refusing to sit at the back of a bus in Virginia. In 1941, she entered Howard Law School intent on eliminating Jim Crow laws. When she learned about "Jane Crow laws," she co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality.

In 1944, she organized a sit-in, which resulted in the desegregation of a Washington, DC, cafeteria. That same year, she graduated at the top of her class, the only female, from Howard. Rejected by Harvard Law School because of her gender, she enrolled at the University of California’s Boalt Hall Law School instead.

In 1950, Murray was the only woman hired by a prestigious New York firm. In 1951, she published States’ Laws on Race and Color, which became an invaluable reference for civil rights lawyers.

In 1965, Murray became the first African American to receive a doctorate of Juridical Studies from Yale. She also served as counsel in White v. Crook, which successfully challenged sexual and racial discrimination in jury selection.

With Betty Friedan, Murray co-founded the National Organization for Women and served on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union.

At 68, the Catholic-born Murray became the first black woman and one of the first women, period, to be ordained in the Episcopal Church.

She died of cancer in 1985.

“While all of the women on the list are outstanding and inspiring, Pauli, whom I knew personally, was a fount of energy in defense of civil rights and broke barriers when she was ordained the first black Episcopal Church bishop,” says fellow civil-rights activist and honoree Carmen Delgado Votaw.

Alta Schrock

Born in Grantsville in 1911, Dr. Alta Schrock was one of 10 children among a religious Mennonite family. She walked five miles to and from school daily. When Schrock was 17, the first local high school opened; she entered as a freshman.

Since she’d taught herself the biology and botany of the Alleghenies, she received a college scholarship. Unable to afford food at the dining hall, she grew and canned her own food, spending a few cents each week on lettuce and old bread.

During World War II, Schrock served as a nurse in the Civilian Public Service Camps. Post-war, she aided Mennonite refugees coming into the U.S.

In 1944, Schrock earned a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and became the first Mennonite woman in the U.S. to receive a doctoral degree.

In 1957, Schrock left her job at Indiana’s Goshen College and returned home, determined to promote her people’s culture and heritage. She taught and counseled students at Frostburg State University and founded 17 charities and dozens of projects to help the less fortunate, including the Springs Historical Society, Springs Folk Festival, Springs Museum of Early Settlers, Penn Alps Restaurant and Craft Shop, and Spruce Forest Artisan Village. The village and shops are still quite popular and have attracted thousands of tourists to Garrett County.

Schrock is widely recognized as the driving force behind the preservation of Appalachian crafts and heritage. Programs she created helped people find work in an area of high unemployment.

“Alta was a tireless advocate for the Mennonite community, encouraging them to preserve and expand their crafts,” says Jill Moss Greenberg, executive director of the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center.