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Margaret Murray Washington was born in Macon, Georgia, the daughter of an Irish father and an African American mother. Her father died when she was seven, and she went to live in a white family.
At twenty she entered Fisk University and upon graduation she taught at Tuskegee Institute. Soon she became "lady principal" at the Institute, and then she married the school's president, Booker T. Washington, after the death of his first wife.
She helped found the Tuskegee Woman's Club and contributed to the founding of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896. She remained active in the Association, edited its main publication, National Association Notes, and between 1912 and 1918 served as its president.
She became deeply involved in domestic education for mothers in Tuskegee and in supporting schools for children at surrounding plantations.
Like the programs advocated by her husband, Margaret Murray Washington focused on domestic and vocational education. She became involved in interracial cooperation and participated in the path breaking Memphis Women's Inter-Racial Conference in 1920.
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