John H. Murphy Sr.

Okay, so the Afro was founded in 1892.

The person who gets the credit for the founding is my great-grandfather, John Henry Murphy, Sr., He was 52 years old.

He and his wife, Martha, had 10 children.

He had been enslaved, served in the Civil War as a sergeant on the Union side here in Maryland.

And then the wars came.

So when the wars came, the men went to war, and I'm talking about World War II.

My great-grandfather died in 1922.

The men went to war, and the women in the family went to work at the family business.