Hidden Figures: Charlotta Bass #BlackHERstoryMonth 17/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Charlotta Bass #BlackHERstoryMonth 17/28

Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass (February 14, 1874 – April 12, 1969) was an American educator, newspaper publisher-editor, and civil rights activist. Bass is believed to be the first Black American woman to own and operate a newspaper in the United States; she published the California Eagle from 1912 until 1951. In 1952, Bass became the first Black American woman nominated for Vice President, as a candidate of the Progressive Party. She moved to California for her health and ended up working at the The California Owl, a newspaper established by John James Neimore in 1879 in Los Angeles as a way to ease Black settlers' transition to the West. When Neimore died, Bass became the Owl's editor and publisher in March 1912 after purchasing it in auction for fifty dollars. She remained the owner and editor-in-chief for over forty years until she sold the newspaper in 1951. She renamed the newspaper company to the California Eagle due to increasing social and political issues; her purpose for the California Eagle was to write about the wrongs of society. Under the control of Charlotta A. Bass, The California Eagle evolved into one of the leading papers of the day. The Eagle developed a large black readership. By 1925, the Eagle employed a staff of twelve and published twenty pages a week. The Eagle's circulation of 60,000 made it the largest Black American newspaper on the West Coast. Bass was co-president of the Los Angeles division of the Universal Negro Improvement Association during the early 1920s, and was a West Coast promoter of the "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" campaigns of the mid to late 1930s. Charlotta Bass wrote her last column for the California Eagle on April 26, 1951, and sold the paper soon after. When The California Eagle shut down its presses in 1964, it was one of the oldest black-owned and operated papers in the United States. Bass devoted her remaining years to politics. In 1952 Charlotta Bass served as the National Chairman of the Sojourners for Truth and Justice, an organization of black women set up to protest racial violence in the South. In the Progressive Party presidential campaign of 1952, Charlotta Bass was the running mate of lawyer Vincent Hallinan, making her the first Black American woman nominated for Vice President on a national ticket. She was also a founding member of California's Independent Progressive Party, part of the national Progressive Party, a third party movement. In the early 1960's Charlotta Bass retired and moved to Lake Elsinore, California, where she continued her civil rights activism. She turned her garage into a community reading room and a voter registration site for Black Americans, and joined protests against South African apartheid and on behalf of prisoners' rights. In 1966, Bass had a stroke and afterwards retired to a Los Angeles nursing home. She died in Los Angeles on April 12, 1969 from a cerebral hemorrhage. She is buried alongside her husband in Evergreen Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California. #HiddenFigures #CharlottaBass ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: Raising Her Voice - African-American Women Journalists Who Changed History: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt130jn0r 'The fearless newspaper publisher who crusaded for fair housing:' https://la.curbed.com/2019/2/21/18228989/charlotta-bass-california-eagle-housing-segregation-history 'A Look Back at When a Black, Female Newspaper Editor Took on the KKK in L.A.:' https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/charlotta-bass-kkk/ Charlotta Amanda Bass: https://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/bass.html Charlotta Bass: https://www.nps.gov/people/charlottabass.htm 'Charlotta Spears Bass (1874-1969): Newspaper Owner Who Fought for Civil Rights:' https://americacomesalive.com/2014/02/04/charlotta-spears-bass-1874-1969-newspaper-owner-fought-civil-rights/ Charlotta Spears Bass: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charlotta-Spears-Bass Charlotta Bass, newspaper publisher, politician: https://aaregistry.org/story/charlotta-bass-newspaper-publisher-politician/ Charlotta A. Bass: http://www.myblackhistory.net/Charlotta_Bass.htm Charlotta Bass (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotta_Bass