2026 Black Press Week Reception

CELEBRATING 199 YEARS OF BLACK PRESS PUBLISHING 1827-2026

BLACK PRESS WEEK

Reception

#BLACKPRESS199YRS

#BLACKPRESSOFAMERICA

Letter From The President

For nearly two centuries, the Black Press has been the trusted voice of Black America. From the fight against slavery and segregation to today’s battles against misinformation and digital inequity, the Black Press remains essential to truth, justice, and equality. As technology transforms how information is produced and consumed, we must ensure that the Black Press continues to lead with credibility, courage and community at its core.

Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

DOCUMENTING THE BLACK PRESS IN AMERICA THOMAS C. BATTLE, PH.D. The idea of establishing a Black Press Archives and Gallery of Distinguished Newspaper Publishers was conceived in 1965 by William O. Walker, EditorPublisher of the Cleveland Call and Post. Under the leadership of Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett, the National Newspaper Publishers Association endorsed a plan to develop an archives and gallery at a university where the assembled documentation on the Black Press could be permanently preserved and made available to scholars, students and the public.

On July 12th, 1973, Dr. Goodlett, President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, wrote President James E. Cheek to propose the initiation of a joint project to establish at Howard University an “Archives of the Black Press in America” and “a gallery honoring the famous and outstanding Black newspaper publishers, beginning with John Russwurm, publisher of Freedom’s Journal and founder of the Black Press.”

This idea was received enthusiastically by Dr. Cheek, and in 1973 he authorized the creation of a joint Howard University-NNPA project to create the archives and gallery as a unit of the MoorlandSpingarn Research Center. Recognized as one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive repositories for the collection and preservation of materials documenting the history and culture of Black people in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and United States, the Research Center is an ideal location for the archives of the Black Press.

The National Newspaper Publishers Association appointed a committee on the Archives and Gallery, which was chaired until his death by Emory O. Jackson, Editor of The Birmingham World. He was succeeded by Mr. William O. Walker, who had served on the organizing committee along with Mrs. Marjorie B. Parham, Editor-Publisher of the Cincinnati Herald. Dr. Cheek designated the Director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center as the University’s representative to meet with the NNPA’s Black Press Archives Committee.

The successful completion of negotiations to establish the Black Press Archives in the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center was a major accomplishment of the newly restructured Research Center’s first year. As a comprehensive research resource that would include complete microfilm files of Black newspapers, as well as the personal papers and records of Black editors, publishers and journalists, the Black Press Archives was envisioned as a vital and constructive element of the Research Center’s program to collect, preserve and interpret Black history and culture. In order to maximize the value of the Black Press Archives, there was to be a comprehensive collection of Black newspapers, as well as an extensive collection of the private as well as business papers of publishers, reporters, and other persons involved in the production and development of Black newspapers.

Many of the manuscript collections of the Black Press Archives are widely used by scholars, researchers and students. Researchers interested in the Negro Baseball Leagues find the Art Carter Papers invaluable for their research. As a former sports writer, Carter collected sports memorabilia, most notably, Negro Baseball League photographs, yearbooks and scorecards, many of which are unique to his papers. The Papers of Armistead Pride yielded a different kind of treasure.

Pride’s unfinished manuscript on the history of the Black Press was completed by Dr. Clint Wilson II and recently published by the Howard University Press. Dr. Wilson is a Howard University journalism professor, noted author and guest editor of this issue of HUArchivesNet.

Since its establishment in 1973, the Black Press Archives at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center continues to be a major resource for the study of the development of the Black Press and its significance to the local and national communities it serves. For the holdings of the Black Press Archives, both newspaper and manuscript collections, see the Guide to Black Press Resources at the Moorland- Spingarn Research Center under MSRC Resources in this issue.

Black Press Day Program 03.18.2026 | 10AM-1PM

10:00am

Opening Ceremony- Host Aaron Jacobs 11:30pm

Welcome Address - Karen Carter Richards, Chair National Newspaper Publishers Association Fund (NNPAF)

10:05am

Musical Selection- Lift Every Voice And Sing, Howard University Community Choir

10:10am

Opening Remarks- John Warren, NNPA Chair and Dr. Benjamin Talton, Director of the MSRC

Phil Lewis – WABJ Paris Brown – Baltimore Times Ra-Jah Kelly – Washington Informer Dr. Ingrid Sturgis – Associate Dean of the School of Communications at HU Alexandria Green-Jones- Co-Publisher, Bayou Beat News, Founder of AG Media Agency

12:00pm

10:15am

10:20am

10:30am

AI Fireside Chat

Hilltop Remarks- Aniyah Genama, Managing Editor at The Hilltop

Musical Selection- Howard University Community Choir

Black Press Archives and NNPA Fund AnnouncementsLovelace Boafo and Kelly P. Hodges

12:10pm

State of the Black Press- Dr. Benjamin Chavis, CEO / President of NNPA

10:50am

Prayer- Dr. Benjamin Chavis, CEO / President of NNPA

11:00am

Lunch

BPA Digitization ReportBrandon Nightingale – Senior Project Manager (BPA) Sijan Shrestha – MSRC Scholar / Computer Science Major

12:15pm

Enshrinement Presentation and Plaque Acceptance-Karen Carter Richards, Chair National Newspaper Publishers Association Fund (NNPAF)

12:30pm

Closing Remarks- Host Aaron Jacobs

Hosted By: Aaron Jacobs Aaron Jacobs is Program Manager at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, where he oversees programming, community engagement, and special events. With nearly a decade of experience in performing arts, media, and event management, he has built expertise in content creation, community management, and arts administration. He holds a B.A. in Film Production from Howard University, an M.A. in Arts Management from American University, and a Certificate in Business and Administration from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

Letter From The Chair For nearly two centuries, the Black Press has been the trusted voice of Black America. From the fight against slavery and segregation to today’s battles against misinformation and digital inequity, the Black Press remains essential to truth, justice, and equality. As technology transforms how information is produced and consumed, we must ensure that the Black Press continues to lead with credibility, courage and community at its core.

Karen Carter Richards, Publisher of The Forward Times Chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association Fund.

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NNPA FUND BOARD

Karen Carter Richards Chair • Region 4: Texas The Houston Forward Times

John Warren

Robert Bogle First Vice Chair • Region 1: Pennsylvania Philadelphia Tribune

Paris Brown

Board Member • Region 5: California The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint

Board Member • Region 1: Baltimore The Baltimore Times

Cheryl Smith

Lester Booker

Board Member• Region 4: Texas Texas Metro News

Community Board Member

Janis Ware

Gina Wilson

Treasurer• Region 2: Georgia The Atlanta Voice

Secretary• Region 3: Minnesota The Telegraph

Clovis Cambell Board Member• Region 5: Arizona Arizona Informant

Jackie H. Hampton Board Member• Region 2: Mississippi Mississippi Link Newspaper

Jocelyn K. Coley

Jarren Small

Community Board Member

Community Board Member

AI FIRESIDE CHAT SPEAKERS

PARIS BROWN

PHIL LEWIS

Phil Lewis is a journalist from Detroit, Michigan. He is a deputy editor at HuffPost and president of the Washington Association of Black Journalists. Prior to his role at HuffPost, he was a staff writer and programming editor at the millennialbased digital news outlet Mic in New York City. He was a 2017 participant in the prestigious Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship program. He is also author of the award-winning newsletter, What I'm Reading.

RA-JAH KELLY

Publisher, Baltimore Times, NNPA Fund Region 1 Board Member

Chief Officer of Technology and Grants at The Washington Informer

Paris M. Brown is the Publisher of The Baltimore Times, where she has led the publication’s digital-first evolution through innovative audience growth, revenue strategies, and emerging technology. A longtime business development and marketing leader, she is also an early adopter of artificial intelligence, using AI to support editorial innovation, streamline newsroom workflows, and explore new ways to engage audiences. Brown is a frequent speaker on how AI can be applied across both editorial and business operations in media.

Ra-Jah Kelly serves as Chief Officer of Technology and Grants at The Washington Informer, where he leads digital infrastructure, grant strategy, and revenue innovation. He oversees efforts to modernize newsroom operations and evaluate emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to improve workflow efficiency and audience engagement. His work focuses on strengthening institutional sustainability while maintaining the Informer’s commitment to editorial integrity and community trust.

Deputy Editor at HuffPost and President of the Washington Association of Black Journalists

Ingrid Sturgis

Associate Dean in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications Ingrid Sturgis is associate dean in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications and an associate professor of new media in the Department of Media, Journalism and Film. With a career spanning both traditional and digital journalism, she has worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers including The Philadelphia Inquirer, Times-Herald Record and Poughkeepsie Journal, as well as managing editor for two magazine start-ups. She has also held leading digital roles, including editor-in-chief of Essence.com, editor for AOL’s Black Voices, and web strategist.

ALEXANDRIA GREEN-JONES Owner, AG Media Agency, Co-Publisher Bayou Beat News Region 4 President NNPA

Alexandria Green-Jones is the CEO and founder of AG Media Agency, a multimedia communications firm that helps nonprofits, small businesses, and missiondriven brands grow through strategic PR, digital storytelling, content creation, and innovative marketing campaigns. With more than a decade of experience in journalism, branding, and digital media, she has worked with national organizations and major brands to build visibility, strengthen audience engagement, and drive measurable results. By incorporating AI into her creative and marketing strategies, Alexandria develops bold, data-informed campaigns that turn insights into impact.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY SPEAKERS

BRANDON NIGHTINGALE PhD student in History at Howard University and Senior Project Manager of the Black Press Archives at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.

Brandon Nightingale is a PhD student in History at Howard University and Senior Project Manager of the Black Press Archives at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. He leads large-scale digitization and preservation initiatives focused on historic Black-owned newspapers. His research examines the institutional history of the Black press, PanAfrican thought, and the role of archives in shaping public memory.

Aniyah Genama

Lovelace Boafo

Sijan Shrestha

Managing Editor, Hilltop at Howard University

Black Press Archives Digitization Project Manager

MSRC Scholar / Computer Science Major

Aniyah Genama currently serves as the Managing Editor for The Hilltop at Howard University where she is in her final semester of studies in communications and Spanish. She originally comes from Atlanta, Georgia.

Lovelace Boafo is the Project Manager for the Black Press Archives Digitization Project, helping preserve and organize the legacy of Black journalism. Originally from Philadelphia and a graduate of the University at Albany, she brings experience in project coordination, collaboration, and strategic execution, including previous work as a Program Coordinator at General Electric.

Sijan Shrestha is a Computer Science student at Howard University with a strong passion for artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science.

Skilled in Python, JavaScript and machine learning frameworks, he has hands-on experience in research, software development and teaching. His work includes engineering an OCR automation system that improved archival efficiency by 20% and developing a Mask R-CNN instance segmentation pipeline in PyTorch to automate page segmentation, metadata detection and structured data extraction.

THE BLACK PRESS ARCHIVES AND GALLERY OF DISTINGUISHED PUBLISHERS JOELLEN ELBASHIR

The Black Press Archives was founded in 1973, as a joint project of Howard University and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), and established at the University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. The idea of establishing a Black Press Archives and Gallery of Distinguished Newspaper Publishers was that of William O. Walker, editor-publisher of the Cleveland Call and Post, who first articulated the need for an academic institution that would provide a setting in which historical records related to the Black Press, as well as the newspapers themselves, could be collected, preserved and made available to scholars, students and the public. He also envisioned a gallery in which the photographs and accomplishments of Black Press notables would be on permanent display.

The idea was developed by the NNPA under the direction of Carlton B. Goodlett, NNPA president and editor-publisher of the San Francisco SunReporter, and welcomed by James E. Cheek, then president of Howard University. In March 1977, during the sesquicentennial celebration of the founding of Freedom’s Journal, the first African American newspaper, the Black Press Archives and Gallery of Distinguished Newspaper Publishers were dedicated in ceremonies at Howard University. Pioneer African American publishers John B. Russwurm, Samuel E. Cornish, Frederick Douglass, Philip A. Bell and Martin R. Delany were the initial honorees installed in the Gallery. These are joined each year by new inductees, including John H. Murphy, Sr. of the Baltimore Afro-American; Robert S. Abbott of the Chicago Defender; Daisy L. Bates of the Arkansas State Press; C.B. Powell of the New York Amsterdam News; William Monroe Trotter of the Boston Guardian; Frank L. Stanley of the Louisville Defender and others.

A major project of the Black Press Archives has been the microfilming of Black newspapers from around the world. The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center receives more than 200 newspapers currently, and has in its newspaper archives more than 400 titles on microfilm. A second component of the program is the solicitation and acquisition of the personal papers of outstanding journalists, cartoonists, editors and publishers.

ENSHRINEMENT INDUCTEE

Bernal E. Smith PUBLISHER, TRI-STATE DEFENDER