The Howard County
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F O C U S
VOL.12, NO.2
F O R
P E O P L E
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More than 30,000 readers throughout Howard County
The AFRO celebrates 130 years
Family expanded reach A century ago, the newspaper launched an initiative to reach national prominence when John’s son, Carl Murphy, took control in 1922 after his father’s death. He served as editor through 1967, expanding the paper to 13 cities, including Philadelphia, Richmond, Washington,
PHOTO COURTESY OF DOROTHY SCOTT BOULWARE
By Timothy Cox The Baltimore Afro-American newspaper is one of the country’s oldest Blackowned businesses, dating back to 1892. This year, the weekly newspaper, known today as the AFRO, celebrates 130 years of continuous publication. A formerly enslaved man, John Henry Murphy Sr., purchased the newspaper in the late 19th century, less than 30 years after the end of slavery. Murphy had served in the Civil War as sergeant in the Union Army’s “Colored Troops.” After the war, he worked at the Baltimore printing press that published the Afro-American. When its owners went bankrupt, Murphy borrowed $200 from his wife to buy the equipment, becoming the owner of the newspaper in 1897. Today, the AFRO still thrives under the direction of the Rev. Frances “Toni” Draper, a sixth-generation descendant of Murphy, who serves as publisher. More than 80,000 readers in Greater Baltimore and Howard County read the print newspaper each week, and articles can be read for free on its website. “Our founders would be pleasantly amazed about how we’ve managed to keep their dream alive,” said the Rev. Dorothy Scott Boulware, the paper’s managing editor, who has worked at the publication for 25 years. The AFRO publishes “good news and other information that’s typically ignored by mainstream media,” Boulware said. Boulware feels very much connected with the Murphy family, including its current publisher and other Murphy descendants currently employed at the AFRO. She’s also very cognizant of the paper’s proud history. While the New York Times’ slogan is “All the news that’s fit to print,” the AFRO’s motto is “A Champion of Civic Welfare and the Square Deal.”
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Rev. Dorothy Boulware is managing editor of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, which has been published continuously since 1892. Like many staffers, she has worked at the historic newspaper for decades.
D.C., and Newark, N.J. Although most of its editions are out of print today, the media group still publishes the D.C.-based Washington Afro-American newspaper, launched in 1932 on U Street NW — the “Black Broadway” of the nation’s capital. Under Carl Murphy’s 45-year leadership, the AFRO pushed for more Blacks on Baltimore’s police force, in the fire department and in the Maryland legislature. In the 1950s, the newspaper called for the end of Jim Crow laws and segregation. It joined forces with the Baltimore NAACP in its successful lawsuit against the University of Maryland Law School for
its segregationist admission policy. That lawsuit was one of a number in the following years that chipped away at the “separate but equal” doctrine, eventually leading to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing segregated public schools. In 1963, the AFRO helped promote the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech. Recognizing the newspaper’s role in American history, the National Museum of See AFRO-AMERICAN, page 20
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