Charlotta Bass
- Hayeon Kwak
- Sep 25, 2023
- 3 min read
Win or lose, we win by raising the issues - Charlotta Bass
Date of Birth: February 14, 1874
Nationality: American
On February 14, 1874, Charlotta Bass was born the sixth out of eleven children in Sumter, South Carolina. Ambitious and determined, she would move all the way to Rhode Island to live with an older brother and receive secondary education, a rare feat for women and even more so for black women at the time.
She attended Pembroke College and started her career in the newspaper industry not behind the typewriter, but selling ads and subscriptions for the Providence Watchman, a black-owned paper. She worked for the paper for ten years until she moved to California for the sunny skies and fresh air she needed to recover from her asthma and arthritis.
This move proved to be a major blessing. Her new job at The Eagle, another African-American newspaper and the oldest black-owned paper on the West Coast. At first, Bass was hired again to sell subscriptions, but soon she was doing multiple odd jobs including writing and editing.
The founder and editor of The Eagle, John Neimore, recognized Bass’s talent and potential and requested Bass to take over the company on his deathbed. Bass bought the paper at an auction for $50 and took over the company as Neimore had asked. She rebranded the name to The California Eagle and became one of the first African-American women to own and operate a newspaper. Bass kept herself the managing editor but hired her future husband, Joseph Bass, as editor, and the two turned the paper into a huge success. In only two decades, the California Eagle became the largest black newspaper on the West Coast with a booming audience of approximately 60,000.
Charlotta Bass centered the content in The California Eagle to call out racism against African Americans and championed reforms against many issues at the time including police brutality and the KKK. Bass boldly called attention to racist hiring practices against African Americans in Los Angeles and even exposed the Ku Klux Klan and detailed their horrific crimes.
Her radical tone in her civil rights work angered many, and her life was threatened multiple times. When Bass won the lawsuit for libel the Ku Klux Klan had filed against her, right Klan members attempted to attack Bass in her office. However, she was able to protect herself with a pistol, and the Klan members quickly retreated.
Fearlessly, she continued to advocate for civil liberties, women’s rights, and immigration with a dauntless attitude. The FBI labelled her as a communist and she was placed under surveillance but she persevered and began many movements such as the “Don’t Spend Where You Can’t Work” boycott in Los Angeles for the first time and supported the creation of the Home Owners Protective Association.
In the 1940s, she organized community meetings that demanded police reforms and led the win against housing segregation in Los Angeles. Even after her husband’s passing in 1934, Bass continued the California Eagle on her own until 1951, when she sold the paper. Between her husband’s death and the end of the California Eagle, Bass became more involved in politics. In 1940, she served as the Western regional director for the republican Wendell Wilkie campaign but soon grew frustrated with the Republican party’s treatment of African Americans.
Dissatisfied with both the Republican and Democratic parties, became an Independent and helped organize the Independent Progressive Party of California. She continued her advocacy in other countries as well, including the Societ Union, which led the FBI to investigate and attempt to revoke her permit for the California Eagle and passport.
After she sold the California Eagle in 1951, she moved to New York City and centred her life around Progressive Party politics. Bass made history the following year in 1952 when she became the first African American woman to be nominated for vice president for the Progressive Party and ran for national office with the party’s presidential candidate, Vincent Hallinan. The two campaigned widely on controversial topics the party stood for, including civil rights, decent jobs, peace, and equality. From the very beginning, Bass did not intend to win, but rather worked hard with the slogan: “Win or lose, we win by raising the issues.”
Even after the campaign’s end and her retirement, Bass remained active in her local community, giving speeches and uplifting struggling people until she passed away in 1969. Charlotta Bass left a legacy of open doors that laid the foundation for celebrated African-American trailblazers today, such as Vice President Kamala Harris.
2021 Kamala Harris Charlotta Bass | Living History Museum - Hidden Figures of African American Hist.
Written by Hayeon Kwak
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