Story 01
Taking Charge of The California Eagle
In 1879, John James Neimore founded a paper called The Owl in Los Angeles to help African American settlers in the West feel more at home.
When Neimore died in 1912, he entrusted the newspaper and its companion printing business to Charlotta Amanda Spear (later Bass). She renamed it The California Eagle, and her leadership didn’t disappoint. By the 1930s, Bass had made The California Eagle the largest African American paper on the West Coast. Under Bass the paper began a weekly radio broadcast called The California Eagle Hour. She also wrote a weekly editorial column entitled "On the Sidewalk," advocating for civil rights, women’s rights, immigrants’ rights, and more. After forty-one years with the newspaper, Bass resigned in 1951 to focus on politics, including a historic run for Vice President.
