Elizabeth Murray a.k.a Liz Murray & The Story Homeless to Harvard
Elizabeth Murray, who is she?
Born in Bronx, New York, Liz Murray raised by loving poor, drug-addicted and HIV-infected parents. Liz became homeless when her mother died at the age of 15, her father then moved to a homeless shelter. Murray’s life began to turned around when she was attending the Humanities Preparatory Academy in Chelsea, Manhattan, in New York City.
Though Liz started high school later than most students, and remained homeless, Murray graduated in only two years and awarded a New York Times scholarship for poor and needy students and accepted into Harvard for the fall of 2000. Liz left Harvard in 2003 to care for her sick father; she resumed her education at Columbia University to be closer to her father. Later after a short period at Columbia she did move back to Harvard and now currently finishing her degree.
Murray’s life was really amazing and in-fact her story was subjected to the 2003 Emmy-nominated Lifetime TV movie, it’s Homeless to Harvard.
Elizabeth Murray was an unlikely member of the class of 2003. Born to drug-addict parents, Murray spent much of her childhood on the streets of New York, shuffling between friends’ houses and children shelters.
When the AIDS-related death of her mother inspired her to take her education more seriously, Murray entered the Humanities Preparatory Academy, a small high school in Lower Manhattan. While working her way through high school, Murray slept on the subway or on the street, estranged from her family.
At the encouragement of her high school principal, Murray decided to go to college and won a New York Times Scholarship. After a year at an internship at The Times, Murray matriculated at Harvard in the fall of 2000.
She lived in Canaday Hall, but left for a year after a difficult semester. Upon returning to Harvard, Murray lived in Currier House—but she never fully adjusted to Harvard, and left again last winter.
Although friends say that Murray was clearly intelligent, they suggest that she had problems with the new culture and the administration. Murray herself says that she found that the problems of her past—her troubled family life and chaotic childhood—caught up to her and made Harvard difficult for her. She also landed a book deal and filmed an autobiographical movie, Homeless to Harvard, which aired on Lifetime in April.
Since Murray left Harvard, she has been living in New York, where she is editing her book and taking care of her ailing father. She is considering returning to college, and maybe pursuing a career as a documentary filmmaker.
“It wasn’t the right time for me,” Murray says, saying that she had too much on her mind to focus at Harvard. “When I put my head down on my pillow, I want to hear my own voice in my head.”
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