Ethelyn Murray was born in 1895 to Georgie Westcott and Robert J. Murray, in Charleston, S.C. Her father served as a butler at the Silas Francis Rodgers Mansion on Wentworth Street, and her mother was a homemaker. Murray attended the Simonton School and the Avery Normal Institute, graduating in 1914. She taught in several counties in South Carolina before enrolling at Voorhees Institute in 1918, studying religious and elementary education. In 1920, she relocated to Mobile, Ala., teaching for five years. She received a Rosenwald Scholarship to the Tuskegee Institute to study physical education and dressmaking. Returning to South Carolina, Murray worked at Voorhees for nine years and in 1936, she moved back to Charleston, teaching at Henry P. Archer Elementary School, and at Hampton Institute, Va. in the summer. She married Sebastian L. Parker in 1939. In the 1940s, Parker took a writing correspondence course and upon completion, she began a column for The Lighthouse and Informer, an African American weekly newspaper. She also wrote for Baltimore's The Afro-American, the Pittsburgh Courier, and The Charleston Chronicle, commencing in 1971. Parker was a member of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), serving as president for the Charleston Council (1956-58); she was affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC), served as treasurer and publicity chairperson for the South Carolina Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (SCFCWC), and was a member of The Elite Art and Social Club, Charleston, S.C. She attended Central Baptist Church, working with the church's Missionary Society and the Ever Ready Club, and was director of the YWCA Senior Citizen Program (c.1975-1985). Parker died in Charleston, July 28, 1995.
From the description of Ethelyn Murray Parker papers, ca. 1899-1992 (bulk 1920-1980). (College of Charleston). WorldCat record id: 166409098
