By Frances “Toni” Draper, AFRO Publisher and CEO July 10, 1994 Dear Frances, Having just checked the calendar, I am amazed that it has been almost two months since I requested and received your address from Bernardine. When she happened to mention your name, I explained to her that I have been sharing “My Treasure […]
Author Archives: Frances Toni Draper AFRO Publisher
Posted inBaltimore News
From the AFRO publisher’s desk: financial training can’t start too early
By Frances “Toni” Draper, AFRO Publisher and CEO It was a colorful 3×5 card (more like a booklet) with patriotic symbols and slogans about money. Every day, I put a dime in one of its tiny slots. If I recall correctly, the card held about five dollars worth of dimes that I could take […]
Posted inNational News
A time to learn: the importance of cherishing Black history
By Frances “Toni” Draper, AFRO Publisher and CEO Over 110 years ago, Booker Taliaferro Washington penned this letter to my great grandfather, John H. Murphy Sr. – AFRO founder and publisher– urging him to encourage the schools of Baltimore City to teach Black history. Washington, the first president and chief architect of Tuskegee Normal and […]
Posted inNational News
The movement continues: we still ‘have a dream’
By Frances “Toni” Murphy Draper, AFRO Publisher In 1963, the AFRO meticulously chronicled the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now-famous “I Have A Dream Speech.” As more than 240,000 people of all races and creeds prepared to gather in front of the Lincoln […]
Posted inBaltimore News
No New Year’s Resolution for me – it’s one minute at a time
By Frances Murphy “Toni” Draper, AFRO CEO and Publisher If a doctor gave you 48 hours to live, what would you do? How would you react? Who would you spend your last days, hours, minutes, or seconds with? Friends? Family? Co-workers? Complete strangers? Would you spend time planning your funeral, putting your affairs in order, […]
Posted inBaltimore News
This digital immigrant loves technology
By Frances Murphy “Toni” Draper, AFRO CEO and Publisher Let me say from the outset that I love technology. Some might even call me an early adopter, as I’ve been told by my Gen X children and Gen Z grands that I’m tech-savvy. But, make no mistake about it, I am a digital immigrant (more […]
Posted inNational News
Continuing the legacy of John Henry Murphy Sr.: it may not be easy, but it’s worth it
By Frances “Toni” Murphy Draper, AFRO Publisher and CEO A few months ago, in preparation for its 130th anniversary, the AFRO embarked on an ambitious quest to identify the direct descendants of my great grandfather AFRO founder, John Henry Murphy Sr. We knew that he and Great Grandmother Murphy (nee Martha Elizabeth Howard) had 11 […]
Posted inNational News
We’re still here: the AFRO highlights the importance of Black homeownership, Black realtors and housing policy
By Frances Murphy “Toni” Draper, AFRO Publisher When I was a young child, my mother, my brother, my sister, and I made weekly trips to the “country,” as we called our grandparents’ home. It took nearly an hour to travel from our West Baltimore home, near Elgin Avenue and Poplar Grove Street, to the end […]
Posted inNational News
The AFRO at 130: a word from Publisher Frances “Toni” Draper
The not-so secret of success: “Believe in yourself, in God and the present generation.” “A newspaper succeeds because its management believes in itself, in God and in the present generation. It must always ask itself: whether it has kept faith with the common people; whether it has no other goal except to see that their liberties […]
Posted inNational News
The Mis-Education of the Negro
By Frances Murphy (Toni) Draper, AFRO Publisher In 1933, Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson wrote his seminal, albeit controversial, book The Mis-Education of the Negro. A weekly columnist for the AFRO and other Black publications, Dr. Woodson argued that the education systems of his day were designed to oppress rather than uplift Black children teaching them […]
Posted inNational News
AFRO Exclusive: George Johnson and Madeline Rabb: Finding love late in life — a magical love story
As told to Frances Murphy (Toni) DraperAFRO Publisher He was a widower of two years who had been married for 70 years. He was a devoted caregiver for his late wife for more than 12 years. She was a widow of 17 years who had been married for 39 years. She was fiercely independent, happy […]
Posted inNational News
Black health is Black wealth
By Frances Murphy (Toni) Draper, AFRO Publisher As we reflect on Black wealth during financial literacy month, I’m often reminded that wealth means different things to different people. To some it’s inconsequential. To others, it’s fleeting. And still others express a desire to be wealthy but are uncertain of how and where to start. Unfortunately, […]