The AFRO knows what it’s like to endure challenging times. John H. Murphy, Sr., a former enslaved man founded the AFRO 128 years ago with $200 from his wife, Martha Howard Murphy. Together they created a platform to offer images and stories of hope to advance their community. The AFRO provides readers with good news about the Black community not otherwise found.
Two years before his death, Murphy in a letter to his sons further details the mission and purpose of the AFRO:
“A newspaper succeeds because its management believes in itself, in God and in the present generation. It must always ask itself –
Whether it has kept faith with the common people;
Whether it has no other goal except to see that their liberties are preserved and their future assured;
Whether it is fighting to get rid of slums to provide jobs for everybody;
Whether it stays out of politics except to expose corruption and condemn injustice, race prejudice and the cowardice of compromise.
The Afro-American must become a semi-weekly, then a tri-weekly and eventually when advertising warrants, a daily.
It has always had a loyal constituency which believes it to be honest, decent and progressive. It is that kind of newspaper now, and I hope that it never changes.
It is to these high hopes and goals of achievement that the people who make your AFRO have dedicated themselves. God willing, they shall not fail.”
-John H. Murphy, Sr.
Today the AFRO is led by 4th and 5th generation descendants of John H. Murphy Sr. With your much-needed support, we can continue to bring news and information about the community for another 128 years and beyond, and in the immediate future keep our readers informed with our comprehensive COVID-19 coverage.
We’d like to introduce you to people behind the AFRO, click here.
Learn more about our rich history here.
