Preservation Durham/Pauli Murray Center Present: Queer History of Durham Fundraiser

Tickets are now sold out! Thank you for the support!



Preservation Durham and the Pauli Murray Center are excited to present a Queer History of Durham Tour fundraiser! Discover the many individuals, organizations, and activism that have transformed Durham into the LGBTQ+ safe haven it is today.

This engaging tour features a 1.5-hour bus ride, during which participants will explore the significance of physical spaces for the protection, celebration, and community building within Durham’s LGBTQ+ community. The bus journey will include two outdoor stops: a visit to the Stormie Daie mural at Sarah P. Duke Gardens and the Pauli Murray Mural located at 1101 W. Chapel Street.

Following these stops, we will head over to the Pauli Murray Center for an opportunity to tour the Fitzgerald House, where Pauli resided while in Durham. Attendees will have the chance to enjoy a self-guided exploration of the center and its exhibits, along with a social happy hour with beer and wine.

Preservation Durham is also partnering with the Duke Human Rights Center to create a zine about the importance of preserving Queer spaces. Two incredible, local artists, Kelsey Graywill of Hyperlocal Durham and cartoonist Meg Lentz, are working on designing the zine, which will highlight the importance of preserving queer spaces. We are excited to offer these and some merchandise from the Pauli Murray Center to our visitors. We will also be putting a digital copy of the zine on Open Durham.

The event will take place on November 8th, 2025 from 2:30-5:00 pm. Attendees will check-in at the Pauli Murray Center, parking in public street parking on Carroll Street. Check-in will start at 2 pm, and the bus tour will begin at 2:30.

In the face of federal censorship, it is as important as ever to bring awareness to the importance of historic LGBTQ+ sites.  Earlier this year, the Pauli Murray Center lost a $330,800 grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services in targeted cuts to federal funding. The Pauli Murray Center has also faced censorship, as any reference to Murray’s LGBTQ+ identities has been erased from the National Park Service’s National Historic Landmark page on the Pauli Murray Center. We are honoredto be teaming up with the Pauli Murray Center to fundraise for both of our organizations through this programming. Tickets are $75/person with an option for additional donations.

While we understand this is a lofty price, we want to assure that this tour information will be made available for cheaper or free in other capacities. The tour will be made available for free on Open Durham, so anyone who wants to do the tour themselves can! We are also working to find local organizations that are interested in conducting the tour themselves for a free or cheap rate (if you are a part of an interested organization, reach out!). It will also remain available as a private tour option for Preservation Durham as a condensed walking tour.

We are so excited about this programming and look forward to sharing more about the Queer History of Durham and the necessity to protect these spaces!