The Baltimore Afro-American: 1892-1950 (Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies) [Hardcover]

Hayward Farrar (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 031330517X | ISBN-13: 978-0313305177 | Publication Date: May 30, 1998

Traces the development of the Baltimore Afro-American, one of America's leading black newspapers, from its founding in 1892 to the dawn of the Civil Rights Era in 1950. It focuses on the Afro-American's coverage of events and issues affecting Baltimore's and the nation's black communities, particularly its crusades for racial reform in the first half of the 20th century. Farrar examines how the Afro-American grew and prospered as a newspaper and as a business. How and why the Afro-American conducted its news and editorial crusades for a powerful local and national black community free of racial disabilities is discussed as well. He also evaluates whether or not the Afro-American succeeded or failed in its racial justice campaigns and to what extent these campaigns made a difference in the local and national black communities' struggle for racial equity. He asserts that the Afro-American was a black middle-class institution that wanted to shape its community according to bourgeois values, but it also broke ground by looking at class issues in the early 20th-century black community.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“To support this far-reaching conclusion, Farrar has organized the book in a rather atypical fashion....Well-researched, this book is amply supported by a host of primary source materials....[T]he author has rounded out his study with personal interviews and documents provided by the Murphy family....This book would be a solid supplementary text in courses about journalism history, race, and public opinion and the media.”–Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly

“[A] valuable contribution to understanding the role of the black press in laying the groundwork for the civil rights gains of the 1950s and 1960s....The work is well written and is useful to historians.”–Journalism History

“[I]t is encyclopdeic in scope and provides a well-documented history of the editorial policies and politics of the Baltimore Afro-American....Farrar's book provides an excellent synopsis of the Baltimore Afro-American as a black-owned business, a community advocate, and a forum for the voiceless....[T]he research-hungry student will find much fodder for further study in these pages....In addition to being interesting and analytical this work demonstrated that the owners and editorial writers maintained a gadfly mentality in order to provoke the African-American intelligentisa, as well as the working class, in their relentless quest for full cizitenship in their state and nation.”–Maryland Historical Magazine

“The book shows clearly and in considerable detail the interrelationships among community leaders and the considerable overlap in areas of expertise and participation as these people worked together in numerous efforts. It is the best published source for much of this information....Any scholar interested in African American history, the general history of the late nineteenth century, the history of journalism, or community history should read this interesting work.”–The Journal of Southern History

“...presents a thorough and painstaking history of this important African American newspaper for the first 50-plus years of its life....The history not only describes the content of the newspaper, as most histories of publications do, but it also provides insight into the business of the newspaper, as most histories of publications do, but it also provides insight into the business of the newspaper and into the personal relationships of its owners and employees. With such success and a well-rounded approach, Farrar presents a full picture of the publication.”–Communication Booknotes Quarterly

About the Author

HAYWARD FARRAR is Assistant Professor of History at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (May 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031330517X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313305177
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,562,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review by a family member and employee, May 6, 2004

By 

Robert M. Matthews "Doo Wop Lover" (Baltimore, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Baltimore Afro-American: 1892-1950 (Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies) (Hardcover)

This is Farrar's Phd Thesis from VA Tech. The book is about my great grandfather John H. Murphy Sr. He was a former Civil War First Sgt. who fought for his freedom from slavery, serving with Grant & Sherman. With $200 borrowed from his wife, he started the Afro-American Ledger, a merger between two Sunday school teachers. With his five sons, he built the circulation to 200,000 papers a week, nationally and with offices in five cities, Baltimore, Washington, Newark, Richmond and Phila. The campaign led by his son Carl paved the way for Brown vs. Bd. of education. The Afro still publishes today 112 years later in with offices in Baltimore & DC. This is an excellent book and chronicles the Civil Rights struggle beginning after WWI through the pages of the Afro. A must for the black historian.