Black history happening now: Amelia Ashley-Ward leads oldest Black newspaper in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- ABC7 News is celebrating the people who are working to Build a Better Bay Area by making Black history right now.

For the last 30 years, Amelia Ashley-Ward has been answering the call by leading the Sun-Reporter, San Francisco's oldest newspaper serving the Black community.

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"We tell the stories that others don't tell," Ashley-Ward says. "And we zero right in on our community. And we tell those stories."

She started as an intern under owner Dr. Carleton Goodlett and worked her up to publisher.

"I got a chance to do what I love to do," Ashley-Ward says. "Be with the people that I love, cover the community that I've come from, the community that I love. I've had fun things like interviewing superstars, hanging with sports figures, covering amazing women like Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz, Myrlie Evers."

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It hasn't always been easy, but she persevered, driven by her belief in the Black press and what it means for the Black community.

"We get to have this audience, this conversation with our community every week," Ashley-Ward says. "What you should be doing, who you should vote for, let's think about who should we have a talk with, because they're not doing their part by giving back to our community."

She's proudest of her work to uplift Black women, especially Vice President Kamala Harris, who she supported in her first campaign to be district attorney of San Francisco.

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"The people were evil," Ashley-Ward recalls. "You know how they do women every day. 'You're not strong enough, you're just a pretty face, you're not going to do this and do that.' She's like, 'Oh, Amelia, I'm not going to win.' So let's see about, let's see about that."

That friendship has continued, along with Ashley-Ward's commitment to the Sun-Reporter and the community it serves.

"I would think that people at the end of the day would say that we made a difference," Ashley-Ward says. "We fought to make the world a better place. We help to promote the Kamalas of the world by giving them a voice every week fighting their cause, pleading their cause. I would think that we continuously shine the light on racism fought against it. We fought for women's rights. We fought for equal education equality. And I think that we'll have our place in history. The Black press, you know, we wish to plead our own cause for too long have others spoken for us."

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