Carl Murphy (January 17, 1889 – February 25, 1967) was an African-American journalist, publisher, civil rights leader, and educator. He was publisher of the ''Afro-American'' newspaper chain of Baltimore, Maryland, expanding its coverage with regional editions in several major cities of the Washington, D.C., area, as well as
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Great Migration to the North.
Murphy completed a doctorate in 1913 at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU) in
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...
, Germany after earning bachelor's and master's degrees at Howard and Harvard universities, respectively. He became chairman of the German department at
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
before the United States entered World War I. In 1918 he started working at the ''
Baltimore Afro-American
The ''Baltimore Afro-American'', commonly known as ''The Afro'' or ''Afro News'', is a weekly African-American newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the flagship newspaper of the ''AFRO-American'' chain and the longest-running Africa ...
'' newspaper, founded by his father. He led it for 45 years.
Biography
Carl Murphy was born in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. His parents were John Henry Murphy Sr. and Martha (Howard) Murphy. He graduated from
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
in 1911, earning a master's degree at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1913, and a doctorate at the
University of Jena
The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany.
The un ...
in Germany in 1913. Murphy served as a professor of German and chairman of the German department at Howard between 1913 and 1918. That year he joined the staff of the ''
Baltimore Afro-American
The ''Baltimore Afro-American'', commonly known as ''The Afro'' or ''Afro News'', is a weekly African-American newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the flagship newspaper of the ''AFRO-American'' chain and the longest-running Africa ...
'' newspaper, run by his father John H. Murphy, Sr. since he founded it in 1892.
In 1922, upon his father's death, Dr. Murphy assumed control of the paper. During the next four decades, he established the ''Afro'' as a major African-American newspaper of national importance. At its peak, the ''Afro-American'' published nine national editions, in a total of 13 major cities including Baltimore;
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.NAACP. In December 1932, he declared the NAACP's intention to challenge racial segregation at the state's flagship
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
. By 1935, with the help of NAACP attorneys
Charles Hamilton Houston
Charles Hamilton Houston (September 3, 1895 – April 22, 1950) was a prominent African-American lawyer, Dean of Howard University Law School, and NAACP first special counsel, or Litigation Director. A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard La ...
and
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
, the NAACP forced open the university's law school to black students. Their legal challenge was used at other universities across the Jim Crow South.
Murphy supported the election in 1935 of
Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson
Lillie May Carroll Jackson (May 25, 1889 – July 5, 1975), pioneer civil rights activist, organizer of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. Invariably known as "Dr. Lillie", "Ma Jackson", and the "mother of the civil rights movement", Lillie May ...
to the presidency of the local NAACP branch. She was straightforward and tireless, a counterpoint to Murphy's tendency to work behind the scenes. Jackson served in this post until 1970.
With Murphy's leadership, the ''Afro'' was deeply involved in helping organize
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
's August 1963 "
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also known as simply the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic rig ...
". The paper designated a team of columnists and reporters to aid in the demonstration's promotion, and dispatched another team of journalist to detail its progress. In its 80th anniversary issue, the ''Afro'' called Murphy "a man with a purpose." Murphy ran the paper for 45 years.
He was a lifelong Mason. In addition, Murphy was prominent in the Republican Party: he was appointed as a member of President
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
's 1930 Commission to Haiti. Later he was a member of the Electoral College for the 1960 Presidential election. His influence was felt far beyond his home in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
.
As a result of Baltimore's segregated public education, Murphy and the ''Afro'' staff were very concerned about the unsatisfactory education being provided to black children and the complicity of Baltimore's white power structure. During the 1920s the newspaper intensified its campaign for a first-rate school system, in order to provide black children with upward mobility in American society as well as fulfilling and fairly paid employment for black educators. These efforts served as the foundation for a stable and prosperous black middle class.
To peers and contemporaries, the diminutive Murphy was a giant in action. His grandson Ben Phillips described him as about 5'3" in height. Following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court Decision in ''
Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'' (1954),
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
publicly acknowledged a debt of gratitude to Murphy.
Carl Murphy died on February 25, 1967, the day the
Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber ...
repealed a 306-year-old state law banning interracial marriage. The ''Afro'' publisher and civil rights leader had waged a battle for decades to have this law repealed.
Murphy Family
Carl Murphy met his future wife, Vashti Turley, while she was a student in his German class at
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
. In 1913, while studying at Howard, Miss Turley and 21 other young women founded the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Turley received her B.A. degree from Howard in 1913 and began to teach school in Washington, DC.
Murphy and Turley married in the capital on June 20, 1916. Soon after that, they returned to Baltimore, where he started working with his father in 1918, essentially taking over management of the ''Afro-American.'' By the late 1930s, the Murphy family was prosperous and expanding. By then, the couple had five daughters—
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, Ida, Carlita, Vashti and Frances. Four of their five daughters held positions at the paper. Their youngest daughter, Frances L. Murphy, II, served as publisher and chairman of the board in the 1970s. She succeeded John H. Murphy, III who was the son of Carl's brother, Daniel Murphy.
Legacy
*In 2015, Carl J. Murphy was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame of the MDDC Press Association.Narrator of video, Ben Phillips, grandson: "Carl J. Murphy, Publisher, The AFRO-American Newspapers" , 2015 inductee, MDDC Hall of Fame, accessed 23 March 2016
*The first female Bishop of the A.M.E. Church, Vashti Murphy McKenzie, is Carl Murphy's granddaughter.
Baltimore Magazine
''Baltimore'' magazine is a monthly magazine published in Baltimore, Maryland by Rosebud Entertainment L.L.C., a company owned by Steve Geppi and led by its President Michael Teitelbaum. It is the oldest, continuously published city magazine in ...