Now 79 years old, Bell reminisced Saturday about stashing away the pennies she earned to buy school supplies and bobby socks. She was one of dozens of one-time paperboys and girls who gathered for breakfast at theReginald F. Lewis Museumof Maryland African American History and Culture as part of the paper's 120th anniversary.
Bell said earning her own money meant she didn't have to go to her mother for a handout. The job also taught her an important life lesson, Bell said.
"It encouraged us to economize and to learn to save our money," she said.
The paper, founded in 1892, was once sold from New York to Florida and throughout the South, and for six decades the newspaper boys and girls were its "legs," said publisher John J. "Jake" Oliver Jr. The paper is the longest-running African-American family-owned newspaper in the country, according to the media company.
