Lucile Harris Bluford: A Thunderous Voice for the Oppressed & Silenced in Kansas City

(Feb. 1, 1989) Lucile Bluford answers phones while working at the Kansas City Call. (Original archive unknown; pulled from UMKC’s Women’s Center) In the heart of Kansas City, amidst the buzz of the Kansas City Call’s newsroom, Lucile Harris Bluford emerged as a prophetic voice of resistance. With every phone call she answered and story she penned, Bluford was not just performing the duties of an activist, journalist, owner, editor, and publisher; she was carving out a legacy as a formidable force against the city’s vicious white supremacy. Her life’s work, woven through the fabric of her personal and professional endeavors, stood as a defiant challenge to the existing racial order, illuminating the path toward justice and liberation. How Her Studies Launched Her Passion for Journalism & Activism Born on July 1, 1911, in Salisbury, North Carolina, Lucile Bluford lost her mother at four years old. Three years later, her father married Addie Aliston, and relocated to Missouri. However, Lucile stayed with her grandmother Mariah Harris, in Salusbury , until the age of 10 when her grandmother died. She moved to Kansas City and enrolled in Lincoln High School, where her father taught chemistry and other science courses. There, encouraged...