By Gene Lambey
Special to the AFRO
As the end of the year approaches, the AFRO had the opportunity to interview the award-winning journalist, former AFRO special projects editor and former managing editor, Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware.
Reverend Dorothy S. Boulware is now the faith writer for Word in Black, a collaborative effort between top Black newspapers in the country. After years at the publication in a variety of capacities, she reflects on her time as an AFRO special projects editor and the AFRO managing editor.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Boulware worked as editor for the AFRO from 1997 up until 2015. Later on, she became managing editor for the AFRO, serving from 2019 through December 2022. In 2023 and 2024 Boulware served as a special projects editor before moving to the Word in Black team in August 2024.
Currently, Boulware is the faith writer for Word in Black, a collaboration between the country’s top Black newspapers. To write the column, Boulware draws on experiences gained when she served as pastor of St. John’s Transformation Baptist Church in Baltimore between 1996 to 2014.
In addition to serving the community as a pastor, Boulware has also authored multiple books, including “The Sweetheart Gang Trilogy” and “Created to Walk on Water.”
In 2006 she won the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference Spirit Award for Outstanding Journalism. Decades later, in 2023, her work was still being recognized. Boulware was named one of 24 honorees at the Unsung She-roes Awards in 2023. Over the years, she has been recognized by the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the Baltimore Association Black Journalists (BABJ) and the Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia (MDDC) Press Association.
Q. What was your motivation for writing? What led you to pursue journalism?
A. I’ve always been a writer and friends told me I should write books. When I arrived at Coppin as an adult student with a family, my professors began to mention my writing skills and encourage me to develop them.
Coppin had a journalism minor at the time, so I pursued it along with my major in English literature. I came to the AFRO about 16 years later when the grant I was working on ended. I needed a job and the AFRO was looking for a general assignment reporter.
Q. Being a retired pastor must have some influence on your storytelling and writing. How does faith weave into your writing?
A. My belief in Jesus Christ permeates everything I do, from my prayer room to my kitchen. I’ve always felt responsible to share the light and love in the newsroom with writing, with supervision, with co-workers and just being a dependable member of the team.
Q: What do you remember most fondly about your time with the publication?
A: What I really loved about it was being able to tell the stories that would not have gotten told otherwise if not for the AFRO. I loved working with the students, the interns who went on to become managing editors, broadcast journalists and reporters for larger publications.
Q: Why was it so important to dedicate your efforts to Black Press?
I love Black Press because of the added element of advocacy. We don’t have to be objective in our reporting. We can write about stories that impact our own lives and our own communities with the hope that something will be done about it.
Q. The Black community has long built their foundations on religion. It has carried us through troubling times. How must the Black community continue to stand firm in their faith during these times?
A. While our faith is fueled by scripture and reason, it’s the tradition I’ve seen that fuels my fire many days.
I’ve seen Black women and men of faith carry out their duties in spite of the horrific conditions under which they had to perform. They are the strength upon which we build and they are the subjects of the stories we need to tell our children.
We see the faith communities providing basic needs the government has minimized, food, employment, education, Black history education, etc. We fill in the gaps and offer encouragement and strength to see another day. We’ve been in hard times before. These are peculiar in nature, but as much as we might have been surprised, God is not surprised and is more than able to see us through.
Q. What type of advice do you have for new and young journalists coming into the industry? What are the best ways they can grow in this field?
A. Remain curious. Read everything you can. Stay up-to-date on the news from reputable sources– not social media. Remember that every word you write says something about your character. It’s your brand as well as your employer’s that you are tasked to represent well, in terms of skill, but also to represent with integrity. Allow people to learn they can depend on you to report what they have said, as they have said, without embellishment or error. Be prompt for appointments!
