BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " JOHN HENRY MURPHY Sr " WAS AN AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWS PAPER PUBLISHER, BEST KNOWN AS FOUNDER OF THE " BALTIMORE AFRO-AMERICAN ALSO KNOWN AS THE AFRO " PUBLISHED BY THE AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPER COMPANY OF BALTIMORE INC : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                    BLACK                   SOCIAL             HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   John Henry Murphy, Sr. was an African-American newspaper publisher, best known as founder of the Baltimore Afro-American(also known as The Afro), published by the Afro-American Newspaper Company of Baltimore, Inc. This newspaper is one of the oldest remaining family-owned newspapers in the U.S.^[1]

According to the 1860 United States Federal Census, Murphy was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Benjamin and Susan Murphy (née Colby). He is popularly believed to have been enslaved until mustering into United States Colored Infantry's 30th Regiment in Camp Stanton, Maryland in February 1864. He served as a non-commissioned officer.^[2] Little is known about Murphy before his service in the American Civil War, among the over 8,000 United States Colored Troops who mustered into regiments throughout the State of Maryland.

In 1868 he married Martha Elizabeth Howard, a daughter of the well-to-do African-American landowner, Enoch George Howard of Montgomery County, Maryland. Murphy and his wife had 11 children in all, 10 of whom survived to adulthood. After his death, several of his descendants led the paper over the course of several generations, including his grandson, John H. Murphy, III.^[1]

Using proceeds from a land sale by his wife, Murphy was able to acquire from Rev. Harry Bragg, Sr. the publication, The Afro-American, in 1892 and merge it with his pre-existing publications, The Sunday School Helper and The Ledger.