When worshipers gather at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, March 16, their morning service will carry a special significance. They’ll be celebrating the 198th anniversary of the Black press — a cornerstone of Black civil rights and community building since the founding of Freedom’s Journal, the first Black-owned newspaper, in 1827. The service, a collaboration between the Washington Association of Black Journalists and The Afro-American Newspapers, will also mark the 60th anniversary of The Washington Informer — founded by Dr. Calvin W. Rolark and currently published by his daughter, Denise Rolark Barnes. (Disclosure: The Baltimore AFRO and The Washington Informer are two of…
