By Bilphena Decontee Yahwon
Special to the AFRO
In 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.
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of SHAN Wallace
Carl 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 1952
Credit: AFRO Archives
I 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” column, and continued with Carl J. Murphy’s journey to Liberia for William V.S. Tubman’s 1952 inauguration as president.
I began to wonder: What would it take to make Afro Charities a central site of study and research for Liberians in Baltimore–and beyond– who yearn to access archives about our country? Furthermore, how can this archive serve as a means of facilitating a sort of remembrance between Black people in Baltimore with lineage connected to this migration to Liberia? These are the questions that animates my work here.
Given that much of Liberia’s archives were destroyed during our civil wars or are housed in museums, libraries and universities in the U.S. and Europe, I imagine Afro Charities as a place where this transatlantic dialogue can become more than just a historical anecdote within the collection. Instead, it can reframe the understanding of the AFRO-American Newspaper’s reach, highlighting its global impact and coverage of everyday Black life beyond the United States.
What began as a two-month internship has evolved into an almost two-year fellowship. It seems that my conspiring has paid off, as I now spend July and August (and hopefully for years to come) helping to organize records related to Liberia and also to answer the questions that brought me here in the first place.
Bilphena Decontee Yahwon was born in Suakoko, Bong County, Liberia. She is the steward of Archive Liberia, an invitation and site for recovering, holding, and organizing the collective memory of Liberia.
The post From the AFRO Archives: Bridging the gap between Liberia and Baltimore appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
