As a part of Black History Month, KVUE is partnering with the Austin-Area Urban League to dig deeper into the culture of Austin's African-American history.
In 1973, the first edition of the Villager hit the stands. For the past 44 years, owner and publisher Tommy Wyatt has been printing news Austin and the African-American community can use.
"At the time I owned an insurance business, so I did not start it for the purpose of being my full-time business. I started it as being a resource in the community," Wyatt said. "My experience has been that most of the news that was in the daily papers about us was negative news. We need to have positive news, we have anniversaries, we have graduations."
Along with local issues, the Villager includes national and international stories.
One of the most popular sections is called "The Youth Brigade." Students from middle and high school campuses earn a stipend to write about what's happening in their schools and neighborhoods across Central Texas.
"We have second-generation Youth Brigaders in the program now," Wyatt said.
As Wyatt speaks - stop the presses - 33-year-old Andre Rodgers walks into the Villager office. The former Youth Brigader and Wyatt hadn't seen each other for about 20 years.
"I did that from 1995 to 2001," Rodgers said. "It gave me a sense of responsibility, definitely let me know more about journalism and I thought that was the coolest thing."
Looking through yellowed archives, you can see the history of the capitol city unfold, along with a fresh-faced Rodgers' byline.
"It's so nice to see something that kind of connects us to what Austin was before this big explosion in the population," Rodgers said.
Now the Villager's success of the past is facing the future.
As East Austin changes, so does the newspaper's distribution area.
"Many of our people are moving outside of Austin in Pflugerville, Round Rock, Manor, Del Valle," Wyatt said.
Wyatt plans to keep publishing the Villager for as long as he can.
It's free. You can find it at H-E-B's, churches and other places around town. It's also available online.