Chester Arthur Franklin

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 The Kansas City Call, segregation, civil rights, media

 

 

 

image courtesy of http://www.blackarchives.org
image courtesy of http://www.blackarchives.org

Chester Arthur Franklin founded Kansas City’s first African-American newspaper named The Call in 1913. He wanted to develop a paper that gave a powerful voice to the black community of Kansas City. The paper covered controversial topics such as civil rights and segregation. At one point, The Call received many letters asking the paper to report more pleasant stories and Franklin responded with “the press is to publish, not suppress news.” The Call continues to provide an outlet for the African-American community via print editions in local merchants and its website, www.kccall.com.