Community Profile: Margaret Rose Murray

Margaret Rose Murray is considered a mother of the community by many African Americans and Muslims in the Triangle area of North Carolina and beyond.  She moved to North Carolina in the early 60s. Her late husband, Kenneth Murray Muhammad, founded the first mosque in NC, Ar-Razzak Masjid, in Durham, NC. They founded private kindergarten schools, Vital Links, in 1964, that has served a large number of African American community members. These schools have also served as community centers hosting social and community empowerment events. The Southeast branch of Vital Link School also serves as a temporary space for As-Salaam Islamic Center, while the actual mosque is being built at Lord Anson Drive in Raleigh, NC.

Mother Rose Murray has been active on social justice front. She has stood up for worker rights and
opposed racism. She spoke with sanitation workers and union organizers during the 2006 Sanitation Workers Strike in Raleigh, NC. Mother Rose Murray won Self-Determination Award by Black Workers for Justice for her leadership on social justice front.

Mother Rose Murray has a goal to preserve the history of African American community. She has
published a coloring book for children called Traces of Faces and Places (also named for a Radio Show she produced from Shaw University) to highlight African American achievements. This book encompasses generations of African American visionaries, inventors and discoverers from all fields of life.

We are blessed to have a selfless leader like Mother Rose Murray in our community.

Read a Huffington Post article about the Murray family and their contributions for North Carolina community here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/manzoor-cheema/will-ali-unite-a-divided_b_10492588.html