Clara
Belle Williams Franklin
1856
- 1945
A biographical
sketch of George and Clara Franklin's
son, Chester, says that his family
moved to Omaha in 1887. Perhaps
it was actually early the following
year, because The
Sunday Gazetteer reported on
January 1, 1888 that Mrs. G.F.
Franklin was at home to receive New
Year's Day callers in Denison.
George
F.
Franklin first appears in Omaha city
directories in 1889. The reason for
the family's move from Denison to Omaha was
reported in later years to have been a
desire to escape racial segregation and
disenfranchisement of minorities and to find
better educational opportunities for
Chester. He was seven years old at the
time of the move. Before the move he
may have attended first grade at Anderson
school on West Bond Street when it opened in
1886.
George worked as a barber in Omaha for four
or five years before starting the Enterprise
Printing Company, which he used to publish
the Enterprise,
an African-American weekly. He was
also employed by the city from around 1893
to 1897, first as a ward assessor and later
as an inspector of weights and measures.
Chester graduated from high school in
1896. At his commencement he delivered
a speech titled "Patriotism and Politics."
He attended the University of Nebraska
for two years before returning home in 1898
to help his ailing father with the
newspaper. That same year the
Franklins sold the Enterprise and left Omaha
for Denver in hopes of reviving George's
failing health.
After the family arrived in Colorado, George
purchased another weekly newspaper, The Statesman.
Chester took the position of associate
editor.
George,
the
editor, died in 1901, but Chester and Clara
continued to publish the paper for the next
twelve years. In 1911 they changed the
name to The
Star. In 1913 they sold it and
moved from Denver to Kansas City, Missouri.
Clara
& Chester
Kansas
City, Missouri
Chester
set
up his own printing company in Kansas City.
Six years later he had accumulated
sufficient resources and good will to found The Call
in 1919. It went on to become one of the
largest African-American weeklies in the
country. Ninety-six years later it
continues to serve the black communities of
Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City,
Kansas.
Clara Franklin worked side-by-side with her
son at The
Call from the beginning. She
began with the title of bookkeeper, but her
duties included much more. She was in
charge of circulation, and she went from door
to door in the evenings selling subscriptions.
In 1925, at the age of 45, Chester traveled to
Philadelphia to marry Ada Crogman (1886 -
1983), daughter of Dr. and Mrs. William H.
Crogman of Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Crogman
(1841 - 1931) taught Latin and Greek at Clark
College (now Clark Atlanta University) for 37
years and served as its first black president
from 1903 to 1910. Ada, along with two
sisters and five brothers, grew up on the
Clark campus. After graduation from
Clark, Ada studied dramatic art at Emerson
College in Boston. Upon completion of
her studies there she worked for the National
Playground and Recreation Association of New
York. As part of her job she traveled
the country in search of African-American
talent. She later taught at Alabama
State College and Tennessee State University
She gave up teaching to write and
produce a pageant depicting the history of her
race. "Milestones of a Race" toured the
country, and it was while traveling in
connection with the pageant that she met
Chester Franklin. After they married,
she worked with him and Clara at The Call.
Chester Franklin attributed much of his
success to the two women in his life, his
mother and his wife.
During his 36 years at The Call,
Chester, better known as C.A., was associated
with several notable figures. He was an
early political ally of Harry Truman (1884 -
1972). Although the two parted in 1941
over differences, they continued to correspond
occasionally until Franklin's death. Roy
Wilkins (1901 - 1981), reporter and managing
editor of The
Call from 1923 - 1931, became
executive director of the NAACP in 1955.
Lucile Bluford (1911 - 2003), who
succeeded Franklin as editor and publisher,
sued the University of Missouri after they
rescinded her admission upon meeting her and
discovering she was black. She won her
case in the Missouri Supreme Court in 1941.
She continued to crusade against racism
throughout her career, which lasted until her
death at 91. A branch of the Kansas City
Public Library is named for her.
Elsewhere in the city an elementary
school is named for C.A. Franklin.
When C.A. Franklin died in 1955, his funeral
was held according to his instructions in the
pressroom of The Call. Clara had
preceded him in death by 9-1/2 years.
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Biography
Index
Susan Hawkins
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