Originally printed May 27, 1961 By Moses J. Newson AFRO City Editor Baltimore, Md. —Friendship Airport never looked so good to me as it did Thursday afternoon when our jet pulled in from New Orleans. After two weeks in the heat, hate and hell of Dixie with the Freedom Riders, getting back to Baltimore brought […]
Author Archives: Moses J. Newson
Posted inNational News
NOT EASY TO LOVE MAN WHO BEAT YOU
Earlier this year, Rep. John R. Lewis received the Free Expression Lifetime Achievement Award from the NEWSEUM in Washington, D.C. (see story on front page). He was honored, in part, for his actions as a Freedom Rider in 1961. Below is star civil rights reporter Moses J. Newson’s coverage of the Freedom Riders being beaten […]
Posted inCommentary
Letter to the Editor
Journalists don’t dream of the quality tribute the Afro-American Newspapers paid me weekly during Black History Month by front-paging stories by and about me. As noted, I was inspired to become a journalist in large measure by the AFRO’s many talented and courageous editors, staffers and contributors who crusaded through the years for racial and […]
Posted inNational News
Definitely Back to Birmingham’ Pledges Dr. King
During Feb. the AFRO has been celebrating the work of former AFRO Executive Editor Moses J. Newson, who turned 90-years-old this month. In this final installment, Newsom reports from the South Christian Leadership Conference where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pledged to bring back massive protests to Birmingham, Al. in the face of continued segregation. […]
Posted inCommentary
Ousting Iraq Prime Minister Won’t Pacify Sunnis
The powers of influence, including the United States, have undercut Iraq’s “democratic experiment” and emboldened the war-torn nation’s most violent-prone minority group, the elitist Sunnis. Americans can hope this is true: For now, the Iraqi-area terrorist combatants don’t possess the missiles, war ships or planes capable of cracking the U.S. protective shield. There’s also hope […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
At Home and Around the World, the AFRO Was There
It’s doubtful that John H. Murphy Sr. foresaw the international role the church/community paper he cobbled together in 1892 would play as the AFRO-American Newspapers grew into an institution. As the AFRO celebrates its 121st anniversary this month, the family-owned publication, recognized worldwide for its domestic civil rights coverage, can boast of having supported the […]
Posted inSports
’42’ Snubs Role of AFRO’s Sam Lacy in Breaking Baseball’s Color Barrier
(Updated 04/27/2013) The hit movie 42 talks plenty about Jackie Robinson, baseball’s color barrier and fair play but snubs Afro-American Newspapers’ legendary sports editor Sam Lacy, who played a key role in the baseball integration saga. Included among those who believe Lacy, a leader in the media push in the 1940s to integrate baseball was low-balled […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
The ‘Henry Louis Gates-Gate’ Flopped as Teachable Moment; Big Media Slept Key
Summer 2009’s heated nationally discussed, racial-tinged “Gates-gate” flopped as a significant “teachable moment” in part because inadequate attention was focused by some of the nation’s most respected media on a citizen’s constitutional rights in such disorderly conduct arrest cases. The Gates-gate incident started July 16, 2009, when veteran Cambridge, Mass., police Sergeant James Crowley responded […]