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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.) 1892-1899

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About The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.) 1892-1899

The Baltimore Afro-American began publishing on Saturdays on August 13,1892. In the beginning, it covered primarily local news, with a focus on Baltimore’s Northwest neighborhood, the city’s largest Black neighborhood. Between 1880 and 1900, the Black community in Baltimore experienced significant growth, increasing from 53,716 to 79,258 residents. Newspapers also boomed, with at least six Black newspapers being published from 1900-1912.

The Afro-American was established and edited by Reverend William Moncure Alexander. Reverend Alexander co-founded numerous businesses, including the newspaper Home Protector [no LCCN] in 1899. In 1892, Alexander renamed the Home Protector the Afro-American and relaunched it with the help of John R. Cole, Charles H. Richardson, James E. Johnson, and William H. Daly. In the spring of 1895, the Northwestern Family Supply Company (NFSC) assumed control of the newspaper. The NFSC went bankrupt in July 1896, and the machinery used to print the Afro-American went up for sale. In 1897, John Henry Murphy Sr., at age 56 and with money borrowed from his wife, bought the machinery at auction.

Murphy had overseen the Afro-American’s printing department before the NFSC collapse in 1896. He has also previously founded the Sunday School Helper, a one-page weekly church publication for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, as well as the short-lived Standard newspaper around 1894. By March 27, 1897, the Afro-American restarted publishing with Murphy as the editor. Murphy was an outspoken advocate for justice and stood against racism. In his first issue as editor, he wrote, “We are wondering how many more innocent colored men will be arrested . . . .” He continued, “This thing has been going on for sometime, after a while some unfortunate Negro will be arrested and a ‘furious mob’ will lynch him . . . .”

In 1898, N.W. Ayer and Son’s American Newspaper Annual listed the political affiliation of the newspaper as “Independent” and the circulation as 1,900. That same year, the Afro-American began working with the newly founded Ledger, and the two papers offered a package deal to their subscribers for one dollar. On January 1, 1900, the Afro-American merged with the Ledger, becoming the Afro-American Ledger.

Despite significant competition for Baltimore’s Black readership, the Afro-American succeeded, and the newspaper’s circulation and influence continued to grow. In 1913 John H. Murphy became the president of the National Negro Press Association. In 1915, the title reverted to the Afro-American. After Murphy’s death in 1922, his son Carl J. Murphy pushed the newspaper into national prominence, and it continues to be headed by members of the Murphy family into the present day.

Note: A portion of the issues digitized for this newspaper were microfilmed as part of the Miscellaneous Negro newspapers microfilm collection, a 12 reel collection containing issues of African American newspapers published in the U.S. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Creation of the microfilm project was sponsored by the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1947. For more information on the microfilm collection, see: Negro Newspapers on Microfilm, a Selected List (Library of Congress), published in 1953. While this collection contains selections from more than 150 U.S. newspapers titles, for further coverage, view a complete list of all digitized African American titles available in the Chronicling America collection.

Provided By: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.) 1892-1899

Dates of Publication

  • 1892-1899

Created / Published

  • Baltimore, Md. : Afro-American Co.

Headings

  • -  African American newspapers--Maryland
  • -  African Americans--Maryland--Baltimore--Newspapers
  • -  Baltimore (Md.)--Newspapers
  • -  African American newspapers
  • -  African Americans
  • -  Maryland
  • -  Maryland--Baltimore
  • -  United States--Maryland--Baltimore

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began Aug., 1892; ceased in 1899.
  • -  Available on microfilm from the Library of Congress for the Committee on Negro Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies, and Recordak.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Merged with: Ledger (Baltimore, Md.); to form: Afro-American ledger.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 32 (Apr. 29, 1893); title from caption.
  • -  Ledger (Baltimore, Md.) 2473-5949 (DLC)sn 83045833 (OCoLC)9717406
  • -  Afro-American ledger 2473-5965 (DLC)sn 83045756 (OCoLC)9721724

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn83009626

OCLC Number

  • 9235910

ISSN Number

  • 2473-5922

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://aj.sunback.homes/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://aj.sunback.homes/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Afro-American Baltimore, Md. -1899. (Baltimore, MD), Jan. 1 1892. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83009626/.

APA citation style:

(1892, January 1) The Afro-American Baltimore, Md. -1899. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83009626/.

MLA citation style:

The Afro-American Baltimore, Md. -1899. (Baltimore, MD) 1 Jan. 1892. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn83009626/.