Celebrating Murphy

Celebrating Murphy Hero Image

This article was written by Brandon Inabinet and originally published on February 26, 2018.

Telling discomforting histories must also be tied with the stories of the persecuted who achieved measures of success within an unjust system. Andy Teye already has documented the laborers who helped build the downtown Greenville campus. And of course, we name this entire project for Abraham, the former slave of James C. Furman we hope to memorialize. The efforts of 2015 to commemorate Joseph Vaughn and all the students who desegregated various parts of Furman was a hallmark achievement.

But perhaps the clearest example of a great figure in Furman’s early history is a man known to us only as “Murphy.” Caretaker of the Greenville Female College (which officially merged with Furman in 1938 but had been under shared leadership since James C. Furman’s time), Murphy was a trusted do-it-all man on campus. As one student memorialized in poetry,

“They are gone now–And Old Murphy has,

at last, laid down to rest

From his years of local service,

Giving G.F.C his best.

Who was Murphy?

Do you ask it? Just a plain old Negro man,

Janitor and humble servant.

Always loyal, always true,

Never asking much, but giving

Years of service, Gold and Blue.”

(from “Vision of the 80s,” by Gertrude Hoy Fripp)

The poem and other remembrances of Murphy were published in Judith Bainbridge’s Academy and College: The History of the Women’s College of Furman University. The book tells us that after 1870, Murphy lived in the main building of the campus, an Italianate Villa, and was custodian for the whole of campus. He was chiefly remembered for ringing the bell for all classes but was also greatly respected for his ingenuity and warmth. He devised a rope-and-pulley system that converted the building from old wood fireplaces to coal ovens (98). He was the horticulturalist and planted violets and spring bulbs along the walks (119).

Leased to campus as a slave before the war, Murphy elected to stay in service to the school afterward for more than 50 years. What is perhaps most relevant to our contemporary understanding of the past is the hypocrisy men like Murphy created for the fire eater secessionists and slaveholders like James C. Furman.

Here was an African-American man, entrusted not only to work his entire life, but also to live on campus day and night as the constant companion and aid to dozens of unmarried 16-25 year old white women. Such service puts words like these, by James C. Furman, in their proper context:

“Then every negro in South Carolina, and in every other Southern States, will be his own master; nay, more than that, will be the equal of every one of you. If you are tame enough to submit, Abolition preachers will be at hand to consummate the marriage of your daughters to black husbands! Nay, nay! we beg pardon of South Carolina women for such a suggestion. If their fathers and their brothers have not the spirit to break loose from a government whose elected Chief Magistrate aims to establish such a state of things, the daughters of South Carolina would die for shame at the dishonor of the men.” (pg. 5, Letter to the Citizens of the Greenville District).

It’s time the campus begin to celebrate men like Murphy more.