John H. Murphy

Afro Founder John H. Murphy Sr. Named to Hall of Fame in 2008
Fall 2007 — John Henry Murphy Sr., the founder of one of the country's most influential African-American newspapers, has been chosen to enter MDDC's Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2008, along with eight other notable newspaper professionals being inducted in honor of MDDC's 100th Anniversary.

John H. Murphy Sr. was born a slave on Christmas Day, 1840 in Baltimore to Benjamin Murphy III and Susan Coby Murphy. During the Civil War, Murphy enlisted in the 30th Regiment (Company G), U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) at the age 24. By the end of the Civil War he had risen to the rank of Sergeant and earned his freedom from slavery under the Maryland Emancipation Act of 1863, which freed slaves that served the state in the Union army.

After the war, Murphy returned home and worked as a whitewasher, a trade he learned from his father. He married Martha Howard and they eventually had ten children. When wallpaper made whitewashing an obsolete skill, he was appointed to the postal service. This was followed by stints as a porter, then a janitor, manager of a feed store and finally manager the Afro-American’s printing department.

During this time he also became active with Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church where he was eventually appointed as a District Sunday School Superintendent and established a weekly church publication, the Sunday School Helper. Murphy purchased the printing presses of the Afro-American at auction in 1897 with $200 borrowed from his wife. He merged the Sunday School Helper with the Afro. Shortly thereafter, in 1900, another newspaper, the Ledger, was merged with the Afro and the paper became known as the Afro-American Ledger.

From 1897 until his death on April 5, 1922, John H. Murphy built the Afro-American into one of the most important black newspapers in the country. Through its pages he crusaded for racial justice while exposing racism in education, jobs, housing, and public accommodations. In 1913, he was elected president of the National Negro Press Association.

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