BALTIMORE — The AFRO American Newspaper is one of the oldest Black newspapers in the country. The paper has been providing news to the Black community for more than 130 years.
As a result, the paper has a very extensive archive.
Deyane Moses spends her days going through Black History through the AFRO American Newspapers’ archives.
She’s a curator for Afro Charities, a nonprofit partner to the AFRO.
“You can find photographs. On the back of every photograph, there’s usually the tag line and the cuts. And it gives us identifying information, like the year and the photographer who took the photographs," said Moses.
The archives are being stored, temporarily, at a site provided by the Maryland State Archives.
"These volumes house the actual newspaper that the Afro printed. It’s size and it’s actual paper,” Moses said.
The plan is to move the archives, and offices to Upton Mansion in West Baltimore.
Alexis Taylor is the managing editor for the AFRO.
Taylor says they are working on digitizing an archive with over three million photographs, letters, yearbooks and special moments in time.
“I love the wedding announcements, seeing the brides and the grooms together. I love the birth announcements. Because what it is, [is] a record of Black life day to day. We know that we survived slavery. We know that we thrived under the pressures of Jim Crow," said Taylor.
“The AFRO at one point had 13 editions up and down the East Coast. And one thing that was covered extensively was the arts,” Taylor added.
“We have Mahalia Jackson, Hattie McDaniel winning the first Oscar. We have Harry Belafonte and people like Ella Fitzgerald raising money for the Civil Rights Movement.”
There's even a record of Carter G. Woodson, who started Negro History Week, which ultimately became Black History Month.
“I loved that we follow Dr. Carter G. Woodson around the country as he stressed the importance on record Black history."
At a time when history is not always remembered, AFRO officials believe preserving the history is crucial.
