The ''Call and Post'' (or ''Call & Post'') is an
African-American weekly newspaper, based in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
.
History
The ''Call and Post'' was established around 1928 by a group of people including local African-American inventor
Garrett A. Morgan, as a merger between the ''Cleveland Call'' and the ''Cleveland Post'', two newspapers that had been serving the African-American community since 1916 and 1920 respectively.
William Otis "W.O." Walker, a black Republican who had been co-founder of the
''Washington Tribune'', became editor in 1932.
The ''Call and Post'' provided extensive coverage of the social and religious life in the African-American community, and was known to feature sensational coverage of violence on its front page. The publication also extensively covered
Larry Doby, the first black player to successfully integrate into the
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
's
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...
baseball franchise. Reporter Cleveland Jackson communicated extensively with Indians owner and team president
Bill Veeck
William Louis Veeck Jr. ( ; February 9, 1914 – January 2, 1986), also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was an American Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis ...
before Doby was signed by the Indians in
1947
It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Events
January
* January– February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the count ...
.
With the influence of editor and publisher William O. Walker from 1932 until his death in 1981, the ''Call and Post'' established itself as the most influential voice for African-Americans in Cleveland and ultimately all Ohio. It earned praise as one of the finest African-American newspapers in the country. As early as 1934, the ''Call and Post'' was active in calling for public involvement in the
Scottsboro case. In 1952, a former ''Call and Post'' reporter,
Simeon Booker, became the first African-American reporter at ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
''.
[Wil Haygood,]
The Man From Jet:Simeon Booker not only covered a tumultuous era, he lived it
, ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'', July 15, 2007.
After moving to new offices in 1959, the ''Call and Post'' began to publish with
offset printing
Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on ...
. It was one of the first newspapers in Ohio to use the new technique.
Another example of advocacy took place in 1982, with a scathing editorial in support of Cleveland real estate developer
Winston E. Willis
Winston Earl Willis (born October 21, 1939) is an American former real estate developer who established his business in Cleveland, Ohio during the early 1960s. He created University Circle Properties Development, Inc. (UCPD, Inc.), which owned r ...
, whose properties, located near
University Circle
University Circle is a district in the neighborhood of University on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. One of America's densest concentrations of cultural attractions and performing arts venues, it includes such world-class institutions as the C ...
, had been targeted by the
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...
,
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...
, and University Hospitals for expansion.
The ''Call and Post'' filed for bankruptcy in 1995, but was purchased in 1998 by boxing promoter
Don King.
The ''Call and Post'' covers local news in Cleveland,
Columbus
Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to:
* Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer
* Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio
Columbus may also refer to:
Places ...
, and
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
, along with arts and entertainment in its ''CP2'' (''Call & Post'' 2nd edition) tabloid.
The ''Call And Post'' was inducted into the first class of the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame in August 2013 at the Watjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University
See also
*
African American newspapers
African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are news publications in the United States serving African-American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-American periodi ...
References
Further reading
*
* Ross, Felecia G. Jones (1999).
"Mobilizing the Masses: The Cleveland ''Call and Post'' and the Scottsboro Incident" ''The Journal of Negro History'', v. 84, no. 1 (Winter, 1999).
External links
Call and Post official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Call and Post
Newspapers published in Cleveland
African-American newspapers
Weekly newspapers published in the United States
African-American history in Cleveland
Publications established in 1928
History of Cleveland
1928 establishments in Ohio