About This Lesson
Learn about Charlotta Spears Bass, a crusading newspaper editor and politician who was one of the first African American women to own and operate a newspaper in the United States, in this video from the Unladylike2020 series.
She published the California Eagle in Los Angeles from 1912 until 1951, at a time when newsrooms were male-dominated and few white journalists focused on issues of importance to African Americans. In the paper’s pages, she addressed racism, police brutality, and restrictive housing policies. Later in her career, Bass entered politics and was the first African American woman to run for Vice President of the United States in 1952.
Support materials include discussion questions, primary source analysis, research project ideas, and the New York Times Magazine “1619 Project” created by Nikole Hannah-Jones.
UNLADYLIKE2020 is a production of Unladylike Productions in association with THIRTEEN’s American Masters. UNLADYLIKE2020's collection of educational resources was created by The WNET Group’s Kids Media & Education Department with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
More information and resources available at: https://unladylike2020.com/ and https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/unladylike2020/
This video and the information it provides for my students is something new. It gives us someone who is often overlooked, but should never be. Ms. Bass did so much for our society in her writings and lectures. My girls need to see more Black women empowered to make change. Thank you for this.