Beatrice M. Murphy
Beatrice M. Murphy was a prominent African American poet, editor, and advocate, born on June 25, 1908, in Monessen, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Washington, D.C., where her passion for literature flourished early, leading to the publication of her poetry while still a student. Despite facing significant challenges, including becoming a single mother and battling a severe medical condition, Murphy returned to work and continued her literary pursuits. From 1941 onwards, she held various positions within federal agencies, notably as a correspondence reviewer and editorial clerk.
A key figure in promoting African American literature, she edited the influential anthology "Negro Voices," which spotlighted many lesser-known poets and aimed to uplift aspiring writers. Murphy also co-founded the Negro Bibliographic and Research Center to catalog works by African Americans. Throughout her life, she remained committed to social causes, advocating for the elderly and disabled, and emphasizing the importance of integrity in publishing. Despite becoming legally blind in 1970, she continued her civic engagement and established the Beatrice M. Murphy Foundation to support African American literature. Murphy's legacy is marked by her unwavering dedication to literature, social justice, and community empowerment until her passing in 1992.
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Beatrice M. Murphy
Writer
- Born: June 25, 1908
- Birthplace: Monessen, Pennsylvania
- Died: May 12, 1992
- Place of death: Washington, D.C.
Biography
Beatrice Murphy was born on June 25, 1908, in Monessen, Pennsylvania, to Benjamin and Maud Harris Murphy. She grew up in Washington, D.C., attending public schools and graduating from Dunbar High School in 1928. Her interest in literature began at an early age, with a number of her poems published while she was still in school.
Murphy’s personal literary endeavors were stunted when she became a single mother, but her career choices enabled her to serve other aspiring writers. From 1935 to 1941, she was secretary to the head of the Catholic University of America’s department of sociology, the first black employed at the school in a non-blue-collar position. In 1941, she was diagnosed with inoperable spinal curvature and warned that returning to work would mean death in about three months. Ignoring the doctors, she donned a body cast that started under her arms and reached her hips, supported by braces. In 1981, she noted that she would have missed forty full years of living had she listened to the doctors.
She returned to work in 1942, as a correspondence reviewer and editorial clerk for the federal government, first in the Office of Price Administration and, later, the Veteran’s Administration, until 1959. At one point charged with having ties to a subversive organization, she lost her job but later was reinstated with back pay.
Murphy continued publishing her poetry, editing volumes, and writing newspaper columns. She was a woman of social conscience who threw herself into causes, in later years for people in need, such as the elderly and the disabled. At the height of her career, she was an important advocate for struggling young African American writers.
Her first edited book, Negro Voices: An Anthology of Contemporary Voices, introduced readers to eighty mostly unknown poets. Murphy included short biographies that familiarized readers with their lives. While she hoped to provide encouragement and inspiration to budding writers, she cautioned publishers against accepting substandard work because of racial considerations, saying that false praise and insincere encouragement did blacks no favors. In 1965, Murphy cofounded and was managing editor of what became the Negro Bibliographic and Research Center, the purpose of which was to compile a comprehensive listing of works by African Americans.
The Black Power Movement of the 1970’s distressed Murphy. She did not so much blame the radical militants as she did her own generation for failing to give them something to hope for. In her 1969 collection, The Rocks Cry Out, she had called for nonviolent action and black unity, saying in verse: “I will bare my body to the bullwhip/And accept whatever fate/Awaits the black man in his fight/For equality and freedom./I will do anything in the world/You ask of me—but one:/I WILL NOT FILL MY LIFE WITH HATE.”
Murphy was declared legally blind in 1970. Also suffering from diabetes and phlebitis, she nevertheless continued to attend to what she saw as her civic responsibilities. When selected as the district of Columbia’s Handicapped Person of the Year in 1981, she said: “As long as you can wiggle one little finger, you’re not handicapped.”
In 1977, she organized the Beatrice M. Murphy Foundation, initially contributing seventeen hundred books by and about African American writers to the King Library in the hope of furthering the collection and encouraging the preservation of such works. She was its executive director until 1992, when she died of heart disease.