From the AFRO Archives: Bridging the gap between Liberia and Baltimore 

By Bilphena Decontee Yahwon& Special to the AFROIn August 2023, I joined Afro Charities as an intern. I came as someone who had spent considerable time immersed in archives, deeply revering the processing archivists whose hands, eyes, feet and backs make these archives possible. I too wanted to contribute to this labor and effort, both in service to Afro Charities, the rich history of the AFRO-American Newspaper and in service to my homeland of Liberia.Afro Charities Processing Fellow Bilphena Yahwon examines an old edition of the AFRO American Newspaper. Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of SHAN WallaceCarl Murphy, then president of the AFRO waves goodbye to his wife as he boards a plane for the inauguration of Liberian President William Tubman in 1952Credit: AFRO ArchivesI was also conspiring.& While browsing the pages of the AFRO-American Newspapers, via the Enoch Pratt Library’s ProQuest, I found an ongoing conversation across the Atlantic between Liberia and Baltimore.& This dialogue reflected the migration history of free Black people from Baltimore to Cape Palmas, Liberia, in the 1830s as part of the Maryland Colonization Society. It extended further to AFRO’s editor William N. Jones’ 1933 trip to Liberia, which he detailed in his “Day by Day”...