Murphy, Carl J.(1889–1967) - Chronology, Murphy and the NAACP

1889

Born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 17

1911

Receives B.A. with honors from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

1913

Receives MA from Harvard University

1914

Travels to Gena University in Germany

1914

Returns to the United States and teaches German at Howard University

1916

Marries co-founder of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Vashti Turley in Washington, D.C.

1918

Moves to Baltimore, Maryland

1922–67

Becomes head of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper

1929

Moves to Morgan Park Community in Baltimore, Maryland

1935–66

Becomes Head of Baltimore Branch of NAACP Legal Redress Committee

1939–53

Serves as Charter member of Board of Trustees at Morgan State College

1940

Becomes member of the Robert R. Moton Commission to Haiti

1942–49

Serves as member of Maryland Council of Defense

1948

Receives honorary doctorate from Lincoln University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1953–67

Serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees at Morgan State College

1954–55

Serves as president of the National Newspaper Publisher Association (NNPA)

1955

Awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP

1960

Receives honorary doctorate from Wilberforce University in Ohio

1967

Dies in Baltimore, Maryland on March 3

Murphy and the NAACP

Frances Murphy recounted numerous occasions when her father and Du Bois would walk through their Baltimore neighborhood, Morgan Park, discussing strategies for handling civil rights cases and fund raising. The Morgan Park neighborhood was developed in 1917 and attracted African American faculty and staff of Morgan College. While living in this community, Murphy was credited for organizing fourteen people in the Afro-American office in 1935 to form an active Baltimore branch of the NAACP. Two of the most noted group members were Thurgood Marshall and Lillie Jackson. Marshall served as solicitor general while Jackson held the office of branch president for more than thirty years.

Murphy’s role in the NAACP was chairman of the Legal Redress Committee during the early tenure of Thurgood Marshall. Murphy’s main role was to raise money to fund court cases and pay attorney fees. Murphy was noted for giving his own money when he was unable to raise enough funds to cover legal fees and court costs. Frances Murphy recounted a statement made by Thurgood Marshall regarding Murphy’s commitment to civil rights and his support of the NAACP. Marshall said that if it were not for Carl Murphy, there would not have been any money to file court cases such as those for equal salaries for Baltimore teachers, integration of the fire and police department, and challenges against the University of Maryland’s Law School admission policies. The groundwork for the Supreme Court’s push for school desegregation was laid in 1935 with the Donald Murry case. The success of that case opened the university’s Law School to all citizens. Murphy continued to give freely of money and talent. By the time of his death the Baltimore Branch of the NAACP was so successful that it had supported two young African Americans who won office in Maryland’s House of Delegates. The two senators were Clarence Mitchell III and Verda Welcome.

Murphy’s leadership style had a profound impact on others. In 1939, he was able to persuade the Methodist Church to hand over control of Morgan College to the state of Maryland. His devotion to Morgan as both a trustee and chairman of the trustee board won him considerable favor among his colleagues. His leadership as chairman helped Morgan develop into one of the nation’s leading institutions of higher education.