“This is a big deal,” says Howard University history professor Dr. Daryl Michael Scott. “The Afro-American was a chronicle of Black life in the 20th century. Its writers were very in touch with national issues and the power players coming out of Washington. You can’t get any bigger than this. It’s like The New York Times putting all of its archives on line for free.”
The online archives represent the completion of a 10-year project between the Afro-American and Google. Previously limited by its scarce availability on microfilm, taking the archive online will offer users a gold mine of historical insight.
The Web site, www.afro.com/archives, marks the first time a historically Black newspaper has placed its archives online with free access to the public, said publisher and attorney Jake Oliver, great grandson of the publishing company’s founder, John Murphy.
