California Eagle Research Paper

Founded by an escaped slave, John J. Neimore, The California Eagle was one of the oldest and longest running Black newspaper in Los Angeles, California. Under the direction of Neimore, the newspaper was first called, “The California Owl.” The newspaper was started to help ease the transitions of black settlers to the West. Settlers only had to check the paper to find information about housing, jobs, and other information to make living in the west less complicated. The newspaper became one of the leading papers of the era later under the control of Charlotta A. Bass, who took control of the paper after the death of Neimore in 1912. She later renamed the newspaper “The California Eagle”.
Bass, along with her husband, and a veteran journalist from Kansas decided to launch a more militant campaign using the paper to end

W. Griffith 's film "Birth of A Nation" with its derogatory portrayals of African Americans and celebratory depiction of Ku Klux Klan violence. If there was an injustice being done in America; it was being spoken against in the paper. The paper spoke out against the injustice in the military and during both wars; World War I and World War II. After the wars, The California Eagle focused on the injustices of California.
The paper later joined forces with other papers such as The Chicago Defender, Afro-American, The Norfolk Journal, and many others to give support to the Scottsboro Nine; the young men accused of raping two white women aboard a freight train. The paper was also a part of the big campaign “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” which dissuaded blacks from patronizing.
In 1951, Bass sold The California Eagle to Loren Miller, and attorney and former Eagle reporter. Bass had served her community for more than 40 years for the fight for equal rights. In 1952, she became the first black woman to run for national office as the Progressive Party 's Vice Presidential