HEALY MURPHY CENTER INC Information

In 1888, Margaret Mary Healy Murphy, an Irish immigrant and widow, decided to use her own money to impact the lives of some of the state's most underserved residents: African American children. She used her personal funds to build St. Peter Claver Academy, the first privately funded school for African Americans in the state. She also constructed a chapel on the campus which was the first Catholic parish for African Americans in the state. Shortly after the school opened, Mrs. Murphy and her teachers were threatened by bigotry from members of the community including the Ku Klux Klan who objected to the school's mission. In response, she founded the Sisters of the Holy Ghost (now known as the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate) to run the school in 1893. This was another historic first as the first Catholic community of religious women founded in Texas. spc 1896