February is Black History Month, and this month, Grain Valley News is highlighting Black journalists in Missouri for their noteworthy contributions to journalism. We begin with Kansas City legend Lucile Bluford.
Lucile Bluford attended Lincoln High School, where her father taught, and was active in her school newspaper. She graduated first in her class in 1928. Intent on studying journalism, she attended the University of Kansas as the University of Missouri would not admit black students and the historically black college in Missouri, Lincoln University, did not have a journalism degree. Bluford began her career in Atlanta before returning to Kansas City to work for the Kansas City American and the Kansas City Call. In 1939, Bluford applied and was accepted to the University of Missouri’s graduate journalism program, but when we arrived on campus, she was turned away as school admissions officials did not know she was African-American when she applied. She tried eleven times to enter the university and filed several lawsuits against the university to gain admittance. When the state supreme court finally ruled in her favor in 1941, the school closed its graduate program. The University of Missouri later Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the School of Journalism, and in 1989, the university gave her an honorary doctorate. Lucile Bluford was an editor, manager, and eventually owner of the black weekly newspaper, The Kansas City Call. Through her leadership, the paper became one of the largest and most respected black newspapers in the nation. Bluford died in 2003 at the age of 91, having served at The Call for seventy years. For additional information on Bluford, visit https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/lucile-bluford/.
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