Dr. Frances “Toni” Murphy Draper and artist Savannah Wood talk about the history of Baltimore’s AFRO American Newspaper and their family’s ownership of the paper that dates back five generations to 1892. Today, the AFRO holds more than three million photographs in its archive which it is seeking to make public in a new visitor center in the Upton neighborhood.

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Image: unidentified photographer, “Surrounded by excited AFRO newsies, Mayor McKeldin pauses in front of the AFRO building, Friday, while he and Miss Florence L. Murphy, Clean Block director, look over the route of the clean block tour of the city.,” 1946, Collection of The AFRO-American Newspapers Archives

In the first episode, artist Hank Willis Thomas talks about growing up in a household that hosted numerous Black photojournalists and how that influenced his practice. Host Mark Whitaker and Charlene Foggie-Barnett, community archivist for the Charles “Teenie” Harris archive, discuss their personal connections to Pittsburgh and the rich Black history of the city.