One of his fellow students was Ralph Ellison, who would later write the novel Invisible Man (1952), which established his reputation and gave him a lifetime income.

[3] Murray briefly enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Michigan before returning to Tuskegee in 1940 to teach literature and composition.

Murray joined the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 with the desire to "live long enough for Thomas Mann to finish the last volume of Joseph and His Brothers.

After briefly returning to his position at Tuskegee, he opted to pursue a more financially remunerative career as a member of the Active Guard Reserve in 1951 to better support his young family.

Over the next decade, Murray was stationed in a number of locales (ranging from Morocco to California to Massachusetts) and taught a geopolitics course in the Tuskegee ROTC program.

[6] The July 3, 1964 edition of Life included his article "The Problem Is Not Just Black and White", which examined seven books on race relations.

The Omni-Americans contained a series of essays and reviews on such topics as protest literature and the Moynihan Report on black poverty.

"[8] According to author Walker Percy, The Omni-Americans "may be the most important book on black-white relations in the United States, indeed on American culture, published in this generation.

[10] Starting with Train Whistle Guitar (1974), Murray wrote four novels that featured an alter ego named Scooter.

Murray received greater attention in the 1980s and 1990s due to his influence on critic Stanley Crouch and jazz musician Wynton Marsalis.