The Call (Kansas City)

Kansas City The Call, or The Call is an African-American newspaper founded in 1919 in Kansas City, Missouri by Chester A. Franklin. It continues to serve the black community of Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. It is considered one of the top six African-American weeklies in the nation.

Before 1827, when the African-American newspaper Freedom’s Journal was founded in New York City, there were no black-owned and operated newspapers. News of their community was not generally covered by white journalists, and the mainstream press expressed bias against blacks. This reduced communication both within and outside the communities. Black publications have struggled to survive, given difficulties in financing. With the majority of black population in the South until the 20th-century Great Migrations, Northern blacks were not served by Southern papers.

Chester Arthur Franklin (1880–1955) founded The Call newspaper in May 1919 in Kansas City, Missouri. He owned and operated it until his death on May 7, 1955, establishing an office also in Kansas City, Kansas.

Franklin was born in Texas on June 7, 1880, the only child of George F. Franklin, a barber, and Clara Belle (née Williams) Franklin, a teacher. Tired of racial segregation and disfranchisement of minorities in Texas, his family moved to Omaha, Nebraska and eventually to Denver, Colorado in search of opportunities. There Chester worked for his father, who owned local newspapers in both cities.

Eventually Franklin took over Denver’s The Star for his father; he printed, edited, and distributed the paper until 1913.

That year, Franklin decided to move to Kansas City, Missouri, having heard about its growing African-American population and vibrant music and culture. Franklin intended to start up a paper and gain a larger audience within Missouri and Kansas. He set up his own printing shop before organizing to publish his own newspaper. His mother had accompanied him and his family. Franklin launched The Call and sold copies for 5 cents; his mother helped by peddling subscriptions door to door.

...
Wikipedia