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Title
Joseph Blackburn Bass as a young boy with his mother, Susan Bass, Topeka, Kansas, 1870-1880
Alternative Title
Joseph Blackburn Bass, husband of Charlotta, and newspaper editor
Contributor
Downing's Gallery (Topeka, Kan.)
Date Created and/or Issued
[1870-1880]
1870/1880
Contributing Institution
UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library
Collection
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
Rights Information
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Description
Studio portrait of Joseph Blackburn Bass as a boy with his mother, Susan Bass.
Joseph Blackburn Bass founded the Topeka Call, a black community newspaper. He continued to work on that newspaper when it was purchased by another owner and its name changed to the Topeka Plaindealer. Bass was active in local politics, and in 1896 was one of the Kansas delegates to the Republican National Convention that nominated William McKinley for President. After a short stint publishing a black community newspaper in Helena, Montana, Bass moved to Los Angeles, where in 1913, he accepted Charlotta Spears' offer to edit the California Eagle. Spears and Bass married in 1914.
Downing's Gallery was owned by photographer George Downing (1840-1908).
The back of the original photograph states that Downing's Gallery was located "in Union Hall Building, over Barnum & Co's Dry Goods Store, opp. Post-Office, Topeka, Kansas. Written on back of copy photo: credit Southern California library for Social Studies & Research, Inc.
Type
image
Identifier
uclalsc_1889_b06_f08_002a.tif
ark:/21198/z10c6ct8
Subject
African American civil rights workers
African American newspaper editors
Bass, J. B. (Joseph Blackburn), 1867-1934
Thompson, Susan Bass, 1831-1920
Source
Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection
OpenUCLA Collections

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