Register of the California Eagle Photograph Collection, Late 1800s-Late 1950s
Processed by Mary Tyler; machine-readable finding aid created by
Xiuzhi Zhou
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
6120 S. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90044
Phone: (323) 759-6063
Fax: (323) 759-2252
Email: archives@socallib.org
URL: http://www.socallib.org
© 1999
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Register of the California Eagle Photograph Collection, Late 1800s-Late 1950s
Collection number: PH 001
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
Los Angeles, California
Contact Information:
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 S. Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, California 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org
- Processed by:
- Mary Tyler
- Date Completed:
- October 1996
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
© 1999 Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: California Eagle Photograph Collection,
Date (inclusive): Late 1800s-Late 1950s
Collection number: PH 001
Creator:
California eagle (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Extent: 1 cubic foot
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
The collection is available for research only at the Library's facility in Los Angeles.
The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged
to call or email the Library indicating the nature of their research query prior to making a visit.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library for
Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single copies of any
portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be
allowed only with the express written permission of the Library's
director. It is not necessary to obtain written permission to quote from
a collection. When the Southern California Library for Social Studies
and Research gives permission for publication, it is as the owner of the
physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the
copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], California Eagle Photograph Collection, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research,
Los Angeles.
Biography
The
California Eagle, the oldest African American newspaper in Los Angeles traces its origins to 1879, when John J. Neimore, a Texan, started the
paper. It was first known as
The Owl, later to become the
Eagle, and when Charlotta Spears Bass took over, the
California Eagle.
When John Neimore died in 1912, Captain G.W. Hawkins, a second-hand store dealer, bought the paper and turned it over to Charlotta
Bass to own and operate. Charlotta Bass (1879-1969) had moved from her brother's home in Rhode Island to Los Angeles in 1910
for health reasons. It was intended as a two year stay, but the high cost of living drove Mrs. Bass to find work within several
months of her arrival. She landed a job with the
Eagle and proved to be a great asset to the paper.
Charlotta Bass continued in the crusading tradition of the
Eagle in fighting for equality and against racial bigotry. In addition, to the activism of the paper, Mrs. Bass integrated the
social page to please the myriad of interests in the Los Angeles African American community.
Charlotta Bass was running the paper alone until Joseph Blackburn Bass, a founder of the
Topeka Plaindealer, moved to Los Angeles in 1913. He and Charlotta Bass married the following year. They ran the paper together, Mr. Bass took
care of the business end, while Mrs. Bass did most of the writing. Mr. Bass became ill in 1932 and died in 1934. Mrs. Bass
continued to run the paper alone. There was hope that Charlotta Bass's young nephew, John Kinloch who moved to Los Angeles
in the late 1930s would take over the paper. His young life was cut short when he was killed in combat during World War II.
Once again Mrs. Bass was left to run the paper alone.
Money problems plagued the
California Eagle, but Charlotta Bass continued to publish the paper despite competition from the
Los Angeles Sentinel (established 1933) and the
Los Angeles Tribune (established 1940). Mrs. Bass had been contemplating selling the paper, but it wasn't until 1951 that she decided to sell
the paper to Loren Miller, the former city editor of the
California Eagle. Miller continued in the same tradition of putting out an activist paper as Bass and Neimore. Miller, a civil liberties lawyer,
had a particular interest in discrimination and housing. His work against restrictive convenants and other racially segregated
practices led to his appointment as municipal court judge by Governor Edmund "Pat" Brown in 1964.
Miller's appointment to the bench led to the acquisition of his majority stock by a group of 14 people. A.S. "Doc" Young was
designated as the president and editor, while James Tolbert would be publisher and executive vice-president. Tolbert would
manage the business side, while Young would make the editorial decisions. Under the beginning of the short-lived Tolbert-Young
era, the
California Eagle increased its circulation from 3,000 to 21,000 papers. But, within six months the paper went bust due to missed business
opportunities and mismanagement. Young resigned four months into the Tolbert-Young partnership leaving Tolbert, who had very
little editorial experience to manage. The paper rapidly deteriorated and on January 7, 1965, the
California Eagle ceased publication after its beginning 85 years before.
Bibliography
- Bass, Charlotta A.
Forty Years: Memoirs from the Pages of a Newspaper. Charlotta A. Bass, Los Angeles, 1960.
- Cooper, Sarah and Tyler, Mary. "Bass, Charlotta Spears,"
Encyclopedia of the American West. McMillan & Co., New York, 1996.
- Jeter, Ph.D., James Phillip.
Rough Flying: The California Eagle (1879-1965). Presented to the 12th Annual Conference of the American Journalism Historians Association, Salt Lake City, Utah, October
7, 1993. Unpublished.
Scope and Content
The collection is divided into six categories: Charlotta Bass; General; Individuals; Labor; Social Causes; and Society. Most
of the photographs were taken for the
California Eagle. The collection dates from the late 1800s to the late 1950s. The later photographs were used under Loren Miller. Many of
the earlier photographs are of Charlotta Bass and in that series. Other earlier photographs can be found in the Society category
under
Portraits.
Charlotta Bass
Scope and Content Note
Photographs of Mrs. Bass can be found throughout the collection. But, the Charlotta Bass series contain photographs that are
personal to and of her. For example, the photographs of
Jessie Mae Brown,
Helen Gahagan Douglas and
Photo Greetings are signed photos to Mrs. Bass. The
Political Campaigns, an integral part of Mrs. Bass's life, are divorced from her role as a journalist. Many of the photos in the Charlotta Bass
series include photographs of friends and her activities with them.
General
Scope and Content Note
The General series are photographs that were probably used by the
California Eagle for feature stories. Such as the
Hollywood Ten or those of the
Civic Leaders. The photograph that is most used is for reports, monographs, and exhibits is "This Tract is Exclusive and Restricted." Segregated
housing in Los Angeles. Early 1950s.
Individuals
Scope and Content Note
The photographs in the Individuals series include those of Paul Robeson and a young Tom Bradley, former Mayor of Los Angeles.
Other photographs of individuals from the Los Angeles African-American community include Elbert Hudson, President of Broadway
Savings and Loan, Leon Washington, publisher of the
Los Angeles Sentinel, and Gladys Owens Smith, great granddaughter of Biddy Mason. The
California Eagle championed liberal causes for which there are photographs of well-known liberals such as Helen Gahagan Douglas, Leo Gallagher,
Pettis Perry, and Pete Seeger.
Labor
Scope and Content Note
The Labor series include many black workers on the job and on the picket line in Los Angeles. See
Picket Lines, Work, Red Caps, Group Photographs, and Work.
Social Causes
Scope and Content Note
The California Eagle was one of the few papers in Los Angeles that was sympathetic to progressive issues. The photographs represented in the series
Social Causes reflect some of the struggles of progressives during the Cold War era of the 1950s such as the
"LA 21" Smith Act Case. Included in this section is a photograph of the
Laws Family. The Laws Family were ordered to leave their home under the racial-restrictive covenants of the 1940s and 1950s. They wouldn't
leave and were jailed for several days until the California Supreme Court released them on a writ of habeas corpus. Their
attorney was John McTernan, a Los Angeles civil liberties lawyer.
Society
Scope and Content Note
The last in the series is Society. Most of the photographs are of African Americans and the cultural life of that community.
The photographs date from the late 1800s. The photographs that were taken in the 1930s-1950s were probably used in the society
section. Often, the photographs are of the elite of the Los Angeles African American community and their social functions.
These urban elite are featured in
Portraits and
Social Functions.
Publicity includes photographs of entertainers probably used for advertising local gigs in South Central Los Angeles.
Folder 2
Jessie Mae Brown, Helen Gahagan Douglas
Folder 7
Negative, Print (early 1900s).
Folder 13
Trip to the Soviet Union (1950s?).
Folder 14
African American Women Professionals
Folder 17
The
California Eagle and Staff 1920s?, 1932. (Print, negative, slide)
Folder 20
Civil Rights Congress. 1950s.
Folder 21
Civil Rights Congress Citizens Jury. 1952.
Folder 22
Eagle Celebration. April 3, 1947.
Folder 23
Miscellaneous Photographs and Snapshots
Folder 24
Highlander Folk School. 1950s.
Folder 27
International Book Shop. San Francisco, (1940s?).
Folder 28
International Labor Defense. San Francisco, 1927.
Folder 29
Independent Progressive Party. Second Birthday Celebration.
Folder 33
Progressive Party. Late 1940s.
Folder 34
School Group Photographs. Early and Late 1900s.
Folder 35
"This Tract is Exclusive and Restricted." Segregated Housing in Los Angeles. (1950s?). Copy negative and print.
Folder 36
Trains. Print and Negatives.
Folder 38
WPA Theatre. Photographs form "Arena" by Halle Flanagan.
Folder 45
Elbert Hudson, President Broadway Savings and Loan. 1940s.
Folder 50
Paul Robeson, Tom Bradley,
et al. Print, Slide, Negative.
Folder 52
Paul Robeson, Jr's Children. 1958.
Folder 55
Gladys Owens Smith (Great granddaughter of Biddy Mason)
Folder 59
Eldon Manufacturing Company
Folder 63
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers
Folder 64
National Automobile School. Early 1920s
Folder 70
"Ban the Bomb" Peace Demonstration
