Charlotta Bass facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charlotta Bass
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Charlotta Bass, around 1901–1910
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| Born |
Charlotta Amanda Spears
February 14, 1874 Sumter, South Carolina, U.S.
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| Died | April 12, 1969 (aged 95) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | educator, newspaper publisher/editor, and civil rights activist |
| Known for |
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| Spouse(s) | Joseph Bass |
Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass (born February 14, 1874 – died April 12, 1969) was an important American educator, newspaper publisher, and civil rights activist. She worked hard to improve many areas of life. These included housing rights, voting rights, and fair labor practices. She also spoke out against police unfairness.
Bass is believed to be the first African-American woman to own and run a newspaper in the United States. She published the California Eagle from 1912 until 1951. In 1952, Bass made history. She became the first African-American woman nominated for Vice President. She ran as a candidate for the Progressive Party.
Because of her activism, Bass was often accused of being a Communist. There was no proof for these claims. Bass herself always denied them. The FBI watched her closely for many years. They saw her as a possible security risk even when she was in her nineties.
Contents
Early Life and the California Eagle
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Charlotta Amanda Spears was born on February 14, 1874. Her parents were Hiram and Kate Spears. Some records say she was born in Sumter, South Carolina. Others suggest she was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island. She was the sixth of eleven children.
She went to public schools. She also studied for one semester at Pembroke College. When she was twenty, she moved to Providence, Rhode Island. There, she lived with her brother Ellis. She worked selling subscriptions for the Providence Watchman. This was a local Black newspaper. Spears worked there for about ten years.
At age 36, she moved to California for her health. She found a job at the California Eagle newspaper. Her first role was selling subscriptions. When the newspaper's founder, John Neimore, became ill, he asked Spears to run the paper. After Neimore died, she bought the California Eagle at an auction for fifty dollars. She then became its owner and editor.
In 1912, Joseph Bass joined the Eagle as a new editor. He had helped start the Topeka Plaindealer. He and Spears both cared deeply about unfairness and racial discrimination. They decided to work together.
Marriage and Family Life
Charlotta Spears married Joseph Bass. They worked side-by-side running the California Eagle. Charlotta Bass did not have any children of her own.
Leading the California Eagle
The California Eagle became very popular among Black readers. By 1925, the newspaper had twelve staff members. It published twenty pages each week. With 60,000 copies sold, the Eagle was the biggest African-American newspaper on the West Coast.
The newspaper was known for supporting many different ethnic groups. In the 1940s, it spoke up for Asian-American and Mexican-American civil rights. During this time, the California Eagle and other Black newspapers were watched by the government. They were seen as a threat to national security. In 1942, the Department of Justice questioned Bass. They claimed her paper was funded by Japan and Germany.
Bass wanted the California Eagle to expose wrongs in society. The newspaper gave information and hope to the Black community. This community was often ignored or shown badly by white newspapers. Bass worked hard to make sure the paper was high quality. In her weekly column, "On the Sidewalk," she wrote about unfair social and political problems. She pushed for changes for all minority groups in Los Angeles.
Bass published the California Eagle from 1912 until 1951. She and her husband fought against many issues. These included the harmful images in the film The Birth of a Nation. They also fought against unfair hiring in Los Angeles. They stood up to the return of the Ku Klux Klan. They spoke out against police brutality and unfair housing rules. Bass even faced threats from the Ku Klux Klan. She once scared off eight robed men by showing a firearm. She was also sued for libel by a Klan leader but won the case.
The Basses also supported Black soldiers. These soldiers from the Twenty-Fourth Infantry were unfairly sentenced after the 1917 Houston race riot.
In 1934, Joseph Bass passed away. Charlotta Bass then took full control of the newspaper. The government continued to watch the California Eagle. They still thought it was a threat to national security. The FBI kept monitoring Bass. They believed she supported the Communist Party, even though she denied it. In 1943, the Post Office Department tried to stop her newspaper from being mailed. They claimed it had sensitive and illegal material. Bass won this case too. Her mailing permit was not taken away.
Bass kept using the paper to raise awareness. She highlighted issues facing African-Americans and other minorities. This included restrictive covenants in housing. These were unfair rules that stopped people of color from living in certain areas. The United States Supreme Court declared these rules unconstitutional in 1948.
Bass had no children. She planned to pass the paper to her nephew, John Kinloch. He was her sister's son. John lived with Bass in Los Angeles. He worked as a reporter and editor for the California Eagle. He joined the military in World War II. Sadly, he was killed in Germany in 1945.
Bass continued to run the California Eagle alone. In 1951, she sold the paper. She then moved to New York City. There, she focused more on politics. Her activism led to continued accusations of being a communist. She always denied these claims.
Political Activism
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In the 1920s, Bass became a co-president. She led the Los Angeles chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. This group was started by Marcus Garvey. Bass also created the Home Protective Association. This group fought against unfair housing rules in white neighborhoods. She helped start the Industrial Business Council. This council fought against job discrimination. It also encouraged Black people to start their own businesses.
As editor and publisher of the California Eagle, Bass fought many battles. She opposed unfair housing rules. She also fought against segregated schools in Los Angeles. She campaigned to end job discrimination. This included unfair practices at the Los Angeles General Hospital. She also targeted the Los Angeles Rapid Transit Company. She fought the Southern Telephone Company and the Boulder Canyon Project.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, she kept supporting Black businesses. She led a campaign called "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work." Bass had been a Republican for a long time. But in 1936, she voted for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat.
Bass was a leader in both the NAACP and the UNIA. This meant she connected different ideas about Black politics. She directed the Youth Movement of the NAACP. This group had 200 members. It included famous actors like Lena Horne and Hattie McDaniel.
In 1940, the Republican Party chose Bass. She became the western regional director for Wendell Willkie's presidential campaign. Three years later, she made history again. She became the first African-American grand jury member in Los Angeles County Court. Also in 1943, Bass led a group of Black leaders. They met with the Mayor of Los Angeles, Fletcher Bowron. They asked for more public meetings to promote unity among races. They also demanded an end to unfair hiring practices. The mayor listened but did not agree to much change. Later in the 1940s, Bass left the Republican Party. She joined the Progressive Party. She believed neither major party was truly committed to civil rights.
Bass also ran for the Los Angeles City Council in the 1940s. She used the song slogan “Don’t Fence Me In”. This highlighted her fight against housing discrimination.
In 1952, Bass served as the National Chairman. She led the Sojourners for Truth and Justice. This group of Black women protested racial violence in the South. That same year, she was nominated for Vice President of the United States. She was the running mate of lawyer Vincent Hallinan. Bass became the first African-American woman to run for Vice President. Her campaign called for civil rights and women's rights. She also wanted an end to the Korean War and peace with the Soviet Union. Bass's slogan was, "Win or lose, we win by raising the issues."
Bass worked on issues that also interested Luisa Moreno. Moreno was active in Afro-Chicano politics in Los Angeles. In 1943, both women served on the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee. This group fought for the release of several Chicanos. They had been unfairly convicted of murder by an all-white jury. This shows how Bass and Moreno were part of the same fight for justice.
Bass wrote her last column for the California Eagle in April 1951. She sold the paper soon after. She wrote her autobiography, Forty Years, in 1960. She reflected on her life, saying:
It has been a good life that I have had, through a very hard one, but I know the future will be even better, And as I think back I know that is the only kind of life: In serving one's fellow man one serves himself best ...
In 1966, Bass had a stroke. She then moved to a nursing home in Los Angeles. In 1967, at age ninety-one, the FBI still considered Charlotta Bass a possible security threat.
During her retirement, she kept a library in her garage. It was for the young people in her neighborhood. This continued her lifelong fight to give everyone opportunities and education. She passed away in Los Angeles on April 12, 1969. She died from a cerebral hemorrhage. She is buried next to her husband in Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles.
Working Together for Change
Charlotta Bass and Luisa Moreno were important activists. They showed how different communities of color could work together. Both Bass and Moreno fought for civil rights. Bass focused on the African American community. Moreno focused on the Chicano community. But both supported many civil rights causes. They both worked on the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee. They also fought for labor rights and civil rights throughout their lives.
Through the California Eagle, Bass helped readers understand the struggles of people of color. Even when she faced problems with government officials, she used them to help her newspaper. For example, she was stopped by officials and missed a flight to a conference. But she still worked on the next issue of the paper. Charlotta Bass brought the African American community together. She did this by pointing out problems in Los Angeles. She used her newspaper to show unfair treatment. This included issues from housing to police brutality. She helped shift blame from people of color to white officials. These officials were responsible for the unfair treatment.
The California Eagle was a tool to change how people thought. It challenged the police. It even compared their tactics to Hitler's. It also questioned the idea that criminal behavior was biological in people of color. The newspaper linked unfairness to racism. The California Eagle helped bring global attention to the issues of people of color. Charlotta Bass helped create "spatial entitlement." This means she helped communities feel they belonged and had rights in their spaces. She did this by bringing groups together through her work and the newspaper.
Legacy
Charlotta Bass is remembered for her work. She owned and edited the California Eagle from 1912 to 1951. This newspaper was a platform to share the issues of the African American community. Later, it included issues for many different civil rights groups. She worked to improve conditions for people of color. She fought for housing rights, labor rights, voting rights, and against police brutality. She was the first African American woman to be a jury member in Los Angeles County Court. She was also the first to run for Vice President of the United States.
See also
- List of Los Angeles municipal election returns, 1945, for the results of her bid for City Council
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