She was one of ten children born to sharecroppers; an Irish immigrant father and a black American mother, a washerwoman and possibly former slave.
Regarding her as a model student, Washington asked her to assume the position of lady principal, which had formerly been held by his deceased second wife, Olivia A. Davidson.
[2] Washington was reportedly reluctant to share his feelings with Murray, and often left her to tend his children while he was away on business.
Though Washington still mourned the loss of his first two wives, he believed that Margaret provided a well-ordered household, and the two were reportedly happy with their marriage.
Margaret wrote Washington's speeches and she helped her husband in expanding the school and traveled with him on his tours and speaking engagements.
A significant endeavor of the Woman's Club was the restoration of the Elizabeth Russell plantation, located eight miles outside of Tuskegee.
For twelve years, she, alongside other social reformers in Tuskegee, sought to rehabilitate this community through the strengthening of family structures.
Implementing Tuskegee's "Bath, Broom, and Bible" program, she centered her social-uplift theory around improving motherhood and wifehood.
[6] She founded country schools, taught women how to live and attend to their homes, worked for the improvement of prisons, started the Mt.
She became deeply involved in domestic education for mothers in Tuskegee and in supporting schools for children at surrounding plantations.
As with the programs advocated by her husband, Margaret Murray Washington focused on domestic and vocational education.
Many of the recently founded anti-lynching organizations in attendance expressed their support of a bill that defined lynching as an act of murder and that the killer had to suffer repercussions for their actions.