African-American news publisher and businesswoman Lucile Bluford was born on July 1, 1911, in Kansas City, Missouri. Her name became known outside the city when she sued the University of Missouri for denying her entry to its graduate journalism program. Lincoln University, the historically Black university, didn’t have a journalism program, so the University of Missouri was ordered to admit her. Unwilling to do so, the university suspended offering graduate journalism courses in order to keep her from attending. Years later, she would receive the University of Missouri's esteemed Honor Medal and an honorary doctorate.Bluford joined the Kansas City Call as a reporter in 1932 after graduating from the University of Kansas, the second black student to major in journalism there. Best known for her more than 50-year journalism career, Bluford became editor in 1955 following the death of Chester A. Franklin, the publisher and editor. During her time at the Call, Bluford was a leader in the Kansas City civil rights movement and made the paper one of national importance to the African-American community through journalism as a whole. The Call was a whole different journalistic approach to the world—a fresh view to read.
Bluford was committed to keeping the Call alive in the city's 18th and Vine area after the area’s heyday and before its recent resurgence. When everything went down in the commerce district, there was only one business that remained open: The Kansas City Call.
Bluford took the responsibility of being a leader in the African-American community seriously. When Jesse Jackson was running for president and he came to Kansas City to do a campaign speech at the Municipal Auditorium, Bluford was in the upper balcony. When Jackson had finished speaking and began asking for campaign contributions, Bluford stood up and said, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” People saw her, and everybody got quiet. She leaned over the balcony and said, “Now Reverend Jackson, how long did you know you were coming to Kansas City before you came?” He said, "Well, it was a campaign stop." She said, "Is there any reason you didn’t contact the Kansas City Call?" You could have heard a pin drop. Jackson said, “Well, no ma’am. I apologize." And she said, "Well, you ought to apologize.” Bluford completely dressed him down in front of the crowd of 8,000 people.
Lucile Bluford, editor and publisher of the Kansas City Call and a champion of the civil rights movement, died on June 13, 2003, in Kansas City at the age of 91.
Reference:
Reference Library of Black America
Mpho Mabund, editor
Gale Research, Detroit, MI, 1998