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.
Filmmaking team:
Betsy West | Director
Betsy West is the Academy Award®- nominated director/producer of RBG (Magnolia, Participant, CNN Films, 2018) along with Julie Cohen. She is a 21-time Emmy® Award winner for her work as an ABC News producer and executive producer of the documentary series Turning Point. As vice president at CBS News from 1998 to 2005, she oversaw 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. She was executive producer of the MAKERS (AOL & PBS, 2012) documentary and digital series, the short doc The 4%: Film’s Gender Problem (Epix, 2016), and the feature documentary The Lavender Scare (PBS 2017). A graduate of Brown University, she is the Fred W. Friendly professor emerita at Columbia Journalism School.
Julie Cohen | Director
Julie Cohen is the Academy Award® nominated director and producer of RBG (Magnolia, Participant, CNN Films, 2018) along with Betsy West. Previous films she’s directed include The Sturgeon Queens (7th Art Releasing/PBS; Berlinale, 2015; Best of the Fest, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival), and Ndiphilela Ukucula: I Live to Sing (PBS; 2014 New York Emmy Award for Best Arts Program). Before she started making documentaries, Julie was a staff producer for NBC News and the creator and producer of Supreme Court Watch on Court TV. She holds a B.A. from Colgate and master’s degrees from Columbia Journalism School and Yale Law School.
Talleah Bridges McMahon | Producer
Talleah Bridges McMahon is an award-winning director and producer who has made documentaries for PBS, CNN, ABC, and Amazon. Previous projects include directing the Emmy®-nominated PBS series Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise and co-producing The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, which garnered Emmy®, Peabody, and duPont-Columbia awards. Talleah also produced MAKERS: Women Who Make America and contributed to the Academy Award®-nominated documentary feature Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience as well as several Emmy®-nominated specials for ABC News. She has a B.A. from Emory University and an M.A. in journalism from the University of Southern California.
Cinque Northern | Editor
Cinque Northern is an artist, filmmaker, and editor who’s been working in documentary for over eighteen years. He has edited numerous projects for PBS including America By The Numbers featuring Maria Hinojosa and Your Voice Your Story. Cinque also spent ten years working as a lead editor for Stanley Nelson’s Firelight Media (Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Black Panthers). Cinque has over a dozen short films on permanent display at The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Recently he edited a feature documentary about the life of comedian, activist Dick Gregory (now in post-production).
Bryce Cracknell | Impact Producer
Bryce Cracknell is a passionate storyteller and an award-winning social impact producer from North Carolina. He has led social impact campaigns for narrative and documentary features and television shows including JUST MERCY, JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE, and WHEN THEY SEE US. As a storyteller, Bryce aspires to elevate narratives, histories, and experiences that are often overlooked, cast aside, or forgotten. Bryce is a Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Scholar and a graduate of Duke University where he earned a B.A. in Public Policy. Currently, he is the Manager/Impact Producer, Social Impact at Participant.
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.
Filmmaking team:
Betsy West | Director
Betsy West is the Academy Award®- nominated director/producer of RBG (Magnolia, Participant, CNN Films, 2018) along with Julie Cohen. She is a 21-time Emmy® Award winner for her work as an ABC News producer and executive producer of the documentary series Turning Point. As vice president at CBS News from 1998 to 2005, she oversaw 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. She was executive producer of the MAKERS (AOL & PBS, 2012) documentary and digital series, the short doc The 4%: Film’s Gender Problem (Epix, 2016), and the feature documentary The Lavender Scare (PBS 2017). A graduate of Brown University, she is the Fred W. Friendly professor emerita at Columbia Journalism School.
Julie Cohen | Director
Julie Cohen is the Academy Award® nominated director and producer of RBG (Magnolia, Participant, CNN Films, 2018) along with Betsy West. Previous films she’s directed include The Sturgeon Queens (7th Art Releasing/PBS; Berlinale, 2015; Best of the Fest, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival), and Ndiphilela Ukucula: I Live to Sing (PBS; 2014 New York Emmy Award for Best Arts Program). Before she started making documentaries, Julie was a staff producer for NBC News and the creator and producer of Supreme Court Watch on Court TV. She holds a B.A. from Colgate and master’s degrees from Columbia Journalism School and Yale Law School.
Talleah Bridges McMahon | Producer
Talleah Bridges McMahon is an award-winning director and producer who has made documentaries for PBS, CNN, ABC, and Amazon. Previous projects include directing the Emmy®-nominated PBS series Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise and co-producing The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, which garnered Emmy®, Peabody, and duPont-Columbia awards. Talleah also produced MAKERS: Women Who Make America and contributed to the Academy Award®-nominated documentary feature Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience as well as several Emmy®-nominated specials for ABC News. She has a B.A. from Emory University and an M.A. in journalism from the University of Southern California.
Cinque Northern | Editor
Cinque Northern is an artist, filmmaker, and editor who’s been working in documentary for over eighteen years. He has edited numerous projects for PBS including America By The Numbers featuring Maria Hinojosa and Your Voice Your Story. Cinque also spent ten years working as a lead editor for Stanley Nelson’s Firelight Media (Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Black Panthers). Cinque has over a dozen short films on permanent display at The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Recently he edited a feature documentary about the life of comedian, activist Dick Gregory (now in post-production).
Bryce Cracknell | Impact Producer
Bryce Cracknell is a passionate storyteller and an award-winning social impact producer from North Carolina. He has led social impact campaigns for narrative and documentary features and television shows including JUST MERCY, JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE, and WHEN THEY SEE US. As a storyteller, Bryce aspires to elevate narratives, histories, and experiences that are often overlooked, cast aside, or forgotten. Bryce is a Morris K. and Stewart L. Udall Scholar and a graduate of Duke University where he earned a B.A. in Public Policy. Currently, he is the Manager/Impact Producer, Social Impact at Participant.