Beyond the Headlines: What The AFRO’s 133-Year Legacy Teaches Us About Building an Institution
What is the difference between a successful business and an enduring legacy? A business makes money. A legacy changes generations. For many established Diaspora leaders, founders, CEOs, and coaches, you’ve spent 20+ years building a profitable, impactful business. You’ve reached the summit. Now, you’re looking back at the mountain you’ve climbed and asking the inevitable question: “What happens to all this… my expertise, my story, my ‘why’… after I’m gone?”
Learn How to Leverage Your Story through our Story To Asset Framework.
For multi-generational family businesses, you’re living that legacy now. Your challenge is different. You have a 50, 75, or 100-year history, a story of craft and resilience. But is that story locked away in a dusty attic? Or is it your single most powerful marketing asset, the very thing that builds unshakable trust and justifies your premium value in a crowded market?
To answer these questions, we don’t need to theorize. We need only to look at a living, breathing blueprint of legacy in action. We need to look at The AFRO-American Newspapers.
The $200 Investment That Launched a 133-Year Dynasty
When we talk about “legacy,” it often sounds abstract. The story of The AFRO makes it tangible.
The story begins in 1892 in Baltimore, Maryland. The founder, John Henry Murphy Sr., was a man formerly enslaved, who, upon his freedom, saw a critical need. He understood that emancipation wasn’t just a legal status; it was a psychological, spiritual, and economic journey. His people needed a voice. They needed “images and stories of hope to advance their community.”
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He didn’t have venture capital. He had something more powerful: a partner who believed in him. With a $200 loan from his wife, Martha Howard Murphy, he purchased a press and merged several small church publications into a single, powerful periodical.
Think about that. A formerly enslaved man, with $200 from his wife, in the heart of the Jim Crow era, decided to build an institution.
This is a Founder’s Story. This is the kind of raw, powerful narrative that a thousand marketing-speak “mission statements” could never replicate. It’s not just what he did; it’s who he was and why he did it.
The AFRO wasn’t just a business. It was a mission to change narrative.
The Written Mandate: How a Founder Codifies His “Why”
This is where the story gets critical for every leader reading this. John Henry Murphy Sr. didn’t just build a successful company and hope for the best. He knew that for his mission to outlive him, he had to codify it. He had to turn his internal “why” into an external, actionable mandate for the generations who would follow him.
Two years before his death in 1922, Murphy wrote a letter to his sons, who were being trained to take over the business. This letter is one of the most powerful examples of a true legacy asset I have ever seen.
It wasn’t a financial report. It was a moral compass.
He wrote:
“A newspaper succeeds because its management believes in itself, in God and in the present generation. It must always ask itself:
- Whether it has kept faith with the common people;
- Whether it has no other goal except to see that their liberties are preserved and their future assured;
- Whether it is fighting to get rid of slums to provide jobs for everybody;
- Whether it stays out of politics except to expose corruption and condemn injustice, race prejudice and the cowardice of compromise.”
This document is the “secret” to The AFRO‘s longevity.
He didn’t just pass down assets; he passed down values. He didn’t just give them a job; he gave them a mission.
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This letter is a 1920s version of what we at AClasses Media call a Legacy Book. It is the founder’s expertise, vision, and values, packaged in a way that the next generation can read, understand, and, most importantly, execute.
From Mandate to Institution: How Legacy Becomes Your Brand
Because the “why” was so clear, the “what” became legendary. The Murphy family didn’t just run a newspaper; they executed their founder’s mandate with precision for over a century.
When the mandate was “condemn injustice”:
Under the 45-year leadership of his son, Carl Murphy, The AFRO became a legal and editorial force. It collaborated with the NAACP on numerous civil rights cases, including the lawsuits against the University of Maryland Law School that laid the groundwork for the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
When the mandate was to “keep faith with the common people”:
In the 1930s, The AFRO launched the “Clean Block” campaign, a community-driven initiative to improve inner-city neighborhoods that still exist today. This wasn’t just reporting the news; it was making the community better.
When the mandate was global:
During World War II, The AFRO didn’t rely on secondhand reports. It stationed its own reporters in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. One of them, Carl Murphy’s daughter Elizabeth Murphy Phillips Moss, became the first Black female war correspondent.
When the mandate was to build a platform:
The AFRO gave voice to and launched the careers of giants like Langston Hughes and Romare Bearden. Its sports editor, Sam Lacy, campaigned relentlessly for the integration of professional sports.
Do you see what’s happening? The founder’s written legacy, his “letter” was not a dusty relic. It was an operational playbook.
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For a multi-generational family business, this is the gold standard. The AFRO‘s 133-year history of action is their brand. It’s why they can call themselves “The Black Media Authority.” Their heritage isn’t just a story; it’s proof. It’s a premium marketing asset that builds immediate trust.
What Is Your “Letter” to the Next Generation?
Today, The AFRO is led by 4th and 5th generation descendants of John Henry Murphy Sr. The current Publisher and CEO, Dr. Frances “Toni” Draper, is his great-granddaughter.
The newspaper is not a museum piece. It’s a modern media company with a robust digital presence, social media channels, and a weekly show. But every decision is still guided by the DNA encoded by its founder 133 years ago.
The company is now sorting through its massive archives—a literal treasure trove of Black history. This archive is a tangible legacy asset, a physical representation of their expertise and impact.
This brings us back to you.
For the Established Diaspora Leader:
You are the John Henry Murphy Sr. of your family. You are the founder. You built it all from your own “why.” You have 20+ years of expertise, stories, and hard-won wisdom.
What is your “letter” to the next generation?
If you were to pass the torch tomorrow, have you packaged your “why” in a way they can execute? Have you codified your values, your operating principles, and your story of struggle and triumph? Or will it all just fade into memory?
For the Multi-Generational Family Business:
You are the 4th-generation leader. You have the 133-year archive. You have the stories. You have a heritage.
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But is it working for you? Is it packaged as your most powerful marketing tool? Or is it just a timeline on your “About Us” page? A Signature Video or Legacy Book transforms that history from a passive fact into an active, compelling narrative that commands respect and builds loyalty with high-value clients.
The AFRO teaches us that your story, when captured, codified, and passed down, is the most valuable asset you will ever own. It’s the engine of longevity.
Your legacy is your most valuable asset. Before you draft another email, let’s talk about how to immortalize it. Let’s design the “letter” that will tell your story and guide your mission for the next 100 years.
