By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Afro Charities, the nonprofit partner to the AFRO, will break ground on its $16-million redevelopment of the historic Upton Mansion in West Baltimore on Feb. 28.
The property will serve as headquarters for the AFRO American Newspapers and feature offices for Afro Charities, which curates and cares for the AFRO Archives. At present, the collection includes three million photographs, thousands of original newspaper editions and correspondence and rare audio recordings. At the revitalized space, community members will have the opportunity to view the historical records.
Credit: AFRO Photo/ James Fields
“A lot of people don’t know what is in the AFRO archives. I’m most excited about bringing that full collection to West Baltimore,” said Savannah Wood, executive director of Afro Charities. “There are so many families in the area whose histories are documented in the collection. They’ll have much better access to it by us being located there.”
Afro Charities has partnered with Cross Street Partners and Ziger/Snead Architects to complete the transformation. Aside from being the home of the archives, the property will feature gallery space, a recording studio, research and digitization studio, space for community events and a green roof.
Wood said her organization began working on proposals for the project in 2019. In 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Afro Charities won the right to develop the building.
During a time where Black history and diversity, equity and inclusion are under fire from the White House and others, Wood explained that the preservation of the AFRO archives is critical. The collection includes first-hand accounts of key moments in time, like the Civil Rights Movement, Montgomery Bus Boycott, the founding of the NAACP and the 1954 Brown V. Board of Education decision.
“This project becomes even more significant, not only for Baltimore but for the country and the world, as a record of what we have accomplished over the past 130 years-plus,” said Wood. “As all of these federal programs that were initiated to bring equity to our country begin to get rolled back, we have the records of why and how those came about. Even if it gets wiped off of government websites or taken out of the National Archives, we have those records.”
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