Reporters

Jo (Bumbarger) Murray

In 1965, Jo Bumbarger was a 20-year-old from Hickory, N.C., and an MSU journalism student working as a reporter for MSU’s student newspaper, The State News. She was covering student government when the story of a lifetime crossed her beat. 

On Feb. 12, 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. visited campus as part of the MSU All-University Student Government plan that started the Student Educational Tutorial Project, or STEP, as it was called then. STEP was comprised of student, faculty and East Lansing area volunteers who traveled to Holly Springs, Miss., to help deprived students at Rust College and in the surrounding community.

Murray had a brief opportunity to talk with King following his speech as she rode with him in the car that transported him back to the airport. The now-married journalist, Jo Murray, recently reflected on her personal ride with King as she looked at some old copies of The State News articles, provided to her via e-mail to her home in Ketchum, Idaho.   

“It was interesting to look at these articles after all this time and to see how much times have changed,” Murray said. “I noticed things in the articles written like the use of ‘men’ instead of people and the use of the word ‘Negro;’ this all seems so antiquated 40 years later.” 

“People were very, very excited and interested in having the chance to see King in person,” said Murray. “I don’t remember any opposition to his visit, just excitement.”

King spoke about several issues as he addressed a capacity crowd of more than 4,000 people. He emphasized the role of legislation and its impact on racial injustices. He stated, “It may be true that morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated.” 

Murray, who is white, recalled growing up in the segregated South that she’d left behind and the new experiences she’d had in the North while attending MSU.

“I came to MSU because I wanted to study journalism and at the time, the University of North Carolina did not admit women as freshmen or sophomores for academics,” Murray said.  “When I tell people this, they don’t believe it. But it’s true, Blacks were admitted back then but not women.”

While at MSU, Murray’s eyes were opened about race relations and what King called “the great sin (of) communication between the races (being) a monologue rather than a dialogue.”

Murray remembered King as he recalled his first experience with a white roommate at school. “I didn’t know how to act and neither did he,” King said.
 
Murray had similar feelings when she lived in Wilson Hall on MSU’s campus, where she made friends with a black woman who lived in the residence hall.

“We didn’t have any trouble interacting with one another, but I had at least the feeling that people were watching the interaction between us,” Murray said. “No one ever said anything, but in the background, it was always there – the watching – to see how we were going to talk and get along.”

Murray was aware then that people assumed if you were a Southerner, you were prejudiced.  Likewise, the perception that Northerners weren’t prejudiced was a misperception.

When asked if she felt King’s hopes were being realized, Murray responded “I think or at least hope it will be really hard to undo the progress that has been made.”

Jo Murray heads her own public relations firm of the same name from her home in Idaho and a satellite office in the Bay Area of San Francisco. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from MSU in journalism. She’s worked for a number of newspapers throughout her career, including most recently The Oakland Tribune in California as the editorial page editor.