Nathaniel Allison Murray

    "One of seven children, Nathaniel Murray's other siblings were George Henry, a lawyer who studied at Harvard and Howard Universities and taught at Cardozo Business High School in Washington; Paul Evans, a renown concert violinists who later worked for the federal government; Harold Baldwin, who also studied at Cornell University and worked as an engineer in Brazil before becoming a paper manufacturer in Mexico; Helene and Pinckney. Daniel, Jr. was graduate of Oberlin College and also a violinist in New York City. All of the Murray children attended M. Street School. Nathaniel Murray graduated in 1905 and would later return to Armstrong as an instructor in science.

    In the fall of 1905, Nathaniel Murray enrolled at Cornell University as a student in the College of Agriculture and made the acquaintance of his fellow classmates and Charles C. Poindexter, who worked in the department of Agriculture. During registration, a photographer caught him sitting on the curb and snapped a photograph of him. He sent the picture post card home to his parents with the following inscription: "the picture was taken last Friday morning while I was standing in line waiting to be registered as a student at Cornell University. I was sitting down resting myself on the curb in front of the registrar's office, while this line had temporarily halted. The sun was also shining on my face."

    Coming from one of Washington's most prosperous families and surrounded by a community of privilege in Washington, Ithaca offered Murray a different pace with regards to social and cultural events. He welcomed the changed with the small community of "colored" citizens he soon became familiar with. The weekend gatherings that C.C. Poindexter sponsored often consisted of recitations, poetry readings and music and reminded him very much of his circle of friends in Washington. These African-American men enjoyed the camaraderie of each company. While the discussions of establishing a fraternity may have seemed challenging at times, Murray was a strong advocate for it and recollected about the early struggle to convince others of its merit. He said:

    "As was to be expected, some opposed and some favored the new proposition. After drifting along for several weeks with no definite decision forthcoming, I offered the motion that I believed the time was ripe to disband the social club and organize a Negro College fraternity."

An excerpt from "The Talented Tenth"
by Skip Mason