Martha Howard and John H. Murphy Alliance
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Mutual Memorial Cemetery

Martha Howard and John H. Murphy Alliance, also, Mutual Memorial Cemetery. Sandy Spring African American Heritage Trail. , Martha Howard and John H. Murphy Alliance Founded the Baltimore Afro-American Newspaper , Martha E. Howard (1846-1915) was the third child of Enoch George and Harriet Howard. She was born a slave and was released to her mother by Bill of Sale when she was fourteen years old. She would be the property of her mother when she reached thirty years old. She married John Henry Murphy (1840-1923). John Henry Murphy founded the Afro-American Newspapers. Martha was co-founder of The Colored Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and served as president for 17 years., John Henry Murphy was born December 25, 1840. He was a former slave who was set free by the Maryland Emancipation Act of 1863. Murphy was a Jack of all Trades-a whitewasher, porter, janitor, Postal employee, printer and father of ten with Martha E. Howard. He was wounded on the side of the Union Army., He referred to himself as "a poor civil war veteran, who was in the Wilderness with General Grant, and in North Carolina with General Sherman when he captured the Rebel Army of General Joe Johnson". Wounded and penniless, he promised Martha Howard "a world that would be gay with the laughter of children and happy because I worshiped her." The couple wed and moved to a house on Saratoga Street in Baltimore, brought by Martha's father. They had 10 children: five boys and five girls., At age 52, money borrowed from his wife Martha E. Howard was used to purchase a printing press, and he started publication of the Afro-American newspaper. He partnered with Rev. Brag of Baltimore, joining the Afro-American and Ledger newspapers. By the time of his death in 1923, Murphy had take n the paper from a one penny weekly to a 12-page paper with a circulation of more than 14,000. By 1950, the Afro-American had a circulation of more than 200,000 and was the leading voice for racial equality, economic advancement, civil rights, and coverage of black life in the nation., Murphy promoted unity in the Black community of Baltimore, as well as combating racial discrimination in the city and working for children's education. "He crusaded for racial justice while exposing racism in education, jobs, housing and public accommodations. In 1913, he was elected president of the National Negro Press Association., Under Carl Murphy The Afro-American pushed for the hiring of African Americans by Baltimore's police and fire departments; to press for Black representation in the legislature; and for the establishment of a state supported university to educate African Americans., Collaborating with The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on numerous civil rights cases, including the latter's suit against the University of Maryland Law School for its segregationist admission policies., The publication began to grow to reach more cities and to rise in national prominence after his son Carl Murphy took control in 1922, serving as its editor for 45 years. He expanded the paper to have nine national editions, with papers published and distributed in 13 major cities, including Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, PA, Richmond, VA and Newark NJ. The Afro remains in publication today., The Murphy-Howard family lived a prominent and progressive middle-class lifestyle in Baltimore. The family had strong Christian values; John Henry taught Sunday School and printed books dealing with Christian Education. They enjoyed a lifestyle that included attending Shakespearean plays, playing crochet, hosting fine dinner and tea parties. His children received the best education. Their son George Murphy became a public school principal and was the father of Judge William Murphy Jr. of the Circuit Court of Baltimore. Although the family settled in Baltimore, they retained a residence in Howard Chapel Road into the 1940's., Mutual Memorial Cemetery: Important Landmark to the History of Black Sandy Spring , Between 1869 and 1897, three groups of freed Black men who were members/trustees of organizations in Sharp Street Methodist Church purchased parcels of land from Quaker families in Sandy Spring, Maryland. This land, on a gradually inclining hill of cedar trees, was designated as Cedar Mount Cemetery was established to meet the needs of the growing Black Sandy Spring community. More importantly, Cedar Mount have also been a sign of the emergence of a progressive Black Community., Cedar Mount Cemetery was renamed Mutual Memorial Cemetery in honor of the Sisters of the Mutual Aid Society, an organization in Sharp Street Methodist Church. The ladies of the Mutual Aid Society were the early caretakers of these hallowed grounds. Many of the people who are interred there witnessed and/or participated in such important events as slavery, the Civil War, Emancipation, World Wars I and II and the Korean War., Prominent names include Remus Q. Hill, a carpenter, born of former slaves, was one of the first to purchase land and build a home; Ella Pratt, confidant of noted abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass; Harriet Short, a former slave whose marble headstone was purchased by Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin; and Robert Hill, a self-taught builder and philanthropist who built and financed many homes for Blacks in Montgomery County., A unique quality of the cemetery is that many of the headstones are handmade and are therefore like no others. Some are even made of poured concrete and weathered to the point that the words are no longer visible. It is an extraordinary history written in family burial plots, in mounded and sunken graves, in sculptured, inscribed and fading monuments., They are, in fact, a window into the past and a testimony to the ingenuity, and determination of an evolving African American community in the 18th century Sandy Spring, Md., A five-member Mutual Memorial Cemetery Committee, led by Dr. Paul F. Scott Jr. having a deep personal and family connection to the cemetery that holds his grandfather, father, Aunts and Uncles, leads the preservation of the cemetery. Members of the preservation committee include Taneia and Gregory Bacon, Sarah and Kym Awkard, Mabel and Thomas, and Henry Martin. A grant from the Maryland Historical Trust will support the unearthing and preservation of gravestones, installation of interpretive signs, unearthing and identification grave stones embedded in the earth.