Lula Vashti Turley Murphy (February 1884 – March 17, 1960) was an American educator and community leader, one of the founding members of

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...

, the historically black sorority.

Early life and education

Lula Vashti Turley was born in 1884, in

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, ...

, the daughter of Hamilcar Turley and Ida H. Francis Turley. Her father was a clerk in the Pension Bureau, and a church choirmaster. Both of her parents died when she was a girl, and her older siblings both died while she was in high school. Turley graduated from the

M Street School M Street High School, also known as Perry School, is a historic former school building located in the Northwest Quadrant of Washington, D.C. It has been listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites since 1978 and it was listed on ...

in Washington, D.C., and trained as a teacher at the

Miner Normal School Normal School for Colored Girls (now known as University of the District of Columbia) established in Washington, D.C., in 1851 as an institution of learning and training for young African-American women, especially to train teachers. As Miner Norm ...

(now the

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1851 and is the only public university in the city. UDC is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall ...

). In 1913, while she was a student at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

, Turley was one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta. At Howard, she graduated in the class of 1914.

Delta Sigma Theta and other activities

Vashti Turley Murphy taught school as a young woman, and traveled. She was founder of the Baltimore alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. In 1932 she and Vivian Johnson Cook co-founded the Philomathean Club, a black women's study group. In the 1950s, she encouraged all Delta alumnae to vote, and to join the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. In 1957, she was honored as Mother of the Year by the Baltimore alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. Murphy was a member of the board of directors of the Baltimore

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

, president of the St. James Episcopal Church Women's Auxiliary, a member of the wives' club of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

(her husband's fraternity), and active at

Morgan State College Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known ...

(where her husband was on the board of trustees). She was the first president of the Women's Auxiliary of Crownsville State Hospital. She was also president of the parent-teacher association at Public School No. 103 in Baltimore.

Personal life and legacy

In 1916, Vashti Turley married her Howard University German instructor

Carl J. Murphy 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 re ...

. He was later best known as a publisher of the ''

AFRO-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

'' newspaper. They had five daughters: Martha Elizabeth (1917–1998), Ida Ann (1918-1996), twins Carlita (1921 - 2006) and Vashti Murphy-Matthews (1921 - 1981), and Frances (1922–2007). Her eldest daughter

Elizabeth Murphy Moss Elizabeth B. Murphy Moss (1917–1998) was an American journalist. She was the first black woman to be certified as an overseas war correspondent in World War II. Life Elizabeth Murphy came from a Baltimore newspaper family: her grandfather John ...

was a journalist, war correspondent, columnist, and editor. Vashti Murphy-Matthews, a photo engraver, was a member of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. Upon returning from her military service, she joined the newspaper as a researcher and archivist. Turley's granddaughter and namesake

Vashti Murphy McKenzie Vashti Murphy McKenzie (born May 28, 1947) is the interim president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. She's also a retired bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and author of six books. In ...

is a bishop in the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...

. Vashti Turley Murphy died in 1960, aged 76 years, in Baltimore, after a long illness and a leg amputation.

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 ...

was one of the many honorary pallbearers at her funeral. The Baltimore chapter of Delta Sigma Theta created a Vashti Turley Murphy Award for meritorious service, and a scholarship fund in her name. The community center at the Crownsville State Hospital was named for Vashti Murphy.

References

External links

* Toya G. Corbett
"Family, Faith And Feminism: The Murphy Women, 1896-2000"
(PhD dissertation, Morgan State University 2014). A doctoral dissertation about Vashti Turley Murphy, her inlaws, her children, and her grandchildren. *Sean Yoes
"The Murphy Women: Matriarchs of a Media Dynasty"
''AFRO'' (March 19, 2020). {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Vashti Turley 1884 births 1960 deaths 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American educators Delta Sigma Theta founders Murphy family Educators from Baltimore Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni University of the District of Columbia alumni YWCA Schoolteachers from Washington, D.C. Morgan State University people Educators from Maryland NAACP