"Founded by former slave John Henry Murphy Sr. when he merged three church publications, The Baltimore Afro-American became one of the most widely circulated African-American newspapers on the Atlantic Coast. In addition to featuring the first black female reporter (Murphy's daughter) and female sportswriters, the paper's contributors have included writer Langston Hughes, intellectual J. Saunders Redding, artist Romare Bearden, and sports editor Sam Lacy, whose column influenced the desegregation of professional sports. Through the decades, the newspaper fought for equal employment rights, urged African-American participation in politics, and advocated state-funded higher education for blacks."