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In a decision handed down by the Missouri Supreme Court #OnThisDay in 1941, Lucille Bluford’s appeal to attend the University of Missouri (MU) School of Journalism was upheld.![]()
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It was ruled that since Bluford had not made the effort to apply to Lincoln University, Missouri’s college for African Americans, she would only be entitled to attend MU if courses were not available at Lincoln. At that time, Lincoln had no equivalent. ![]()
When MU appealed Bluford’s case to a federal District Court, the court ruled against her, primarily because the University of Missouri had discontinued their journalism program, citing “a shortage of students and faculty members” (Southwest Mail and Weekly Post). The first African American to receive a master’s degree from the School of Journalism would not come for another decade, when George McElroy graduated in 1957.![]()
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Born in North Carolina and partially raised in Kansas City, Lucille Bluford graduated from the University of Kansas with an associate bachelor’s in journalism in 1928. She worked for a newspaper in Georgia before working for several African-American newspapers in Kansas City, becoming an editor for the Kansas City Call in 1931. After Bluford v. Canada, she continued to advocated for the rights of African Americans, serving as one of the first commissioners on the Missouri Human Rights Commission for slightly over a decade, and through her position as editor and later publisher of the Kansas City Call. Involved in many different regional and local committees in Kansas City, as well as a member of the NAACP national board. Today, Bluford’s influence extends far beyond Bluford v. Canada.![]()
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Portrait of Lucille Bluford from the Publication Portraits Collection, RG005, Missouri State Archives.
Photos from The Episcopal Church's post