Lucile Bluford

Lucile Harris Bluford (1911–2003) was a Kansas City journalist and civil-rights figure who spent some seven decades at The Kansas City Call, the city’s Black weekly newspaper, rising to become its second editor and publisher.¹² She is best remembered for being denied enrollment in the University of Missouri’s graduate journalism program because she was Black, and for the resulting landmark case State ex rel. Bluford v. Canada (1939–1941), which helped force the creation of a journalism school at Lincoln University.³⁴ A Kansas City Public Library branch on Prospect Avenue is named in her honor.⁵

Biography

Early life + education

Lucile Harris Bluford was born July 1, 1911, in Salisbury, North Carolina, and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.¹² She attended Lincoln High School (now Lincoln College Preparatory Academy) in Kansas City and went on to the University of Kansas School of Journalism in Lawrence, graduating in 1932 with honors — among the first Black students in that program.¹²

The Call

Bluford joined The Kansas City Call, the city’s leading Black weekly, in the early 1930s under founder and publisher Chester A. Franklin.¹² She advanced through the newsroom — holding posts including news editor, city editor, and managing editor — before rising to editor and publisher of the paper.¹² After Franklin’s death in 1955, she became part-owner alongside his widow, Ada Crogman Franklin.¹

Bluford v. Canada — the Mizzou lawsuit (1939–1941)

In 1939 Bluford applied to the Master of Journalism program at the University of Missouri. The program accepted her on the basis of her mailed transcripts, but when she arrived to enroll, university officials saw that she was Black and refused her admission.¹³ With backing from the NAACP and attorney Charles Houston, she filed the first of several lawsuits against the university on October 13, 1939, naming registrar S. W. Canada.¹⁴

The case, State ex rel. Bluford v. Canada, 348 Mo. 298, 153 S.W.2d 12 (Mo. 1941), reached the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled in 1941 that no equal program existed for Black students at Lincoln University, Missouri’s public Black college.³⁶ Rather than admit Bluford, the University of Missouri suspended its School of Journalism’s graduate offering, citing wartime staffing constraints.¹³ Bluford attempted to enroll some eleven times in all but never attended.¹³ The litigation is credited with prompting the establishment of the Lincoln University School of Journalism in 1942.³

Five decades at The Call

Bluford remained at The Call for the entirety of her career — by most accounts about 69 years, until her death — covering and championing civil rights and the Kansas City Black community across the decades.¹⁵ Between 1968 and 1983 alone she is credited with hundreds of news stories and commentaries for the paper.¹ She died June 13, 2003, in Kansas City at age 91.¹²

Legacy + honors (the Bluford branch library)

The Kansas City Public Library opened the Lucile H. Bluford Branch in 1988 at 3050 Prospect Avenue, naming it for her in recognition of her civil-rights leadership and her long tenure at The Call.⁵ The University of Missouri awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1989 and later named a residence hall for her (2018).¹² The State of Missouri recognizes July 1 as Lucile Bluford Day, and she was named Kansas Citian of the Year in 2002.¹

Significance to Kansas City

Bluford stands among the central figures of Kansas City’s Black press and civil-rights history. Through her decades at The Call she shaped how the city’s African-American community saw and recorded itself, and her stand against the University of Missouri made her a national figure in the legal fight against segregated higher education. The branch library bearing her name on Prospect Avenue anchors her memory in the East Side neighborhood she long served.⁵

Sources

Footnotes

1. State Historical Society of Missouri, Historic Missourians — “Lucile Bluford.” https://historicmissourians.shsmo.org/lucile-bluford/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

2. Wikipedia — “Lucile Bluford.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucile_Bluford ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. Kansas City Public Library — “About Lucile H. Bluford.” https://kclibrary.org/locations/bluford/exhibit ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

4. The Pendergast Years — “Civil Action No. 128: Bluford vs. Canada.” https://pendergastkc.org/correspondence-series/civil-action-no-128-bluford-vs-canada ↩ ↩²

5. Kansas City Public Library — “Lucile H. Bluford Branch.” https://kclibrary.org/locations/bluford ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. vLex — “State ex rel. Bluford v. Canada, 153 S.W.2d 12, 348 Mo. 298 (Mo. 1941).” https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/state-ex-rel-bluford-929692425 ↩