Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. was born June 9, 1962 in Washington D.C.  He is the great-great grandson of Booker T. Washington and the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass.  He spent the first 8 years of his life in Washington D.C. until his family packed up and moved to California in 1970. 

By Tony Seybert
Journalist and Photo Editor
Daily Sundial
California State University--Northridge

1827-1861: Origins of the Black Press

Freedom's Journal, the first Black newspaper in the United States, started as a weekly abolitionist journal in 1827. It was the result of a meeting in New York City of Black leaders, who realized that such a publication was important to efforts towards uniting free Blacks against slavery.

In 1980, Hardy and Cheryl Brown bought The Black Voice News and formed Brown Publishing Company.  They had been active community leaders and budding community journalists.   Hardy was known as the City Editor of the Black Voice News and The American News.  And Cheryl, the first Black planner in the county of San Bernardino, was known for her journalistic contributions o­n community events, religious events, and later her published images of the famous and not-so-famous.  As young publishers, they worked every week, often spending late hours at the office, never missing a deadline.