 Murray lived in Durham until the age of sixteen, at which point she moved to New York to finish high school and prepare for college. There she lived with the family of her cousin Maude; they were passing for white in their white neighborhood. Murray's presence discomfited Maude's neighbors, however, as Murray was more visibly of partial African descent. She nonetheless graduated with her second high school diploma and honors in 1927, and was able to enroll at Hunter College for two years.
