From C. A. Franklin to Dr. F. A. Middlebush
Letter from Kansas City Call editor Chester A. Franklin to University of Missouri president Frederick A. Middlebush, discussing the importance and impetus of the Lucile Bluford case against the university. Franklin writes that the suit is "an effort to make Missouri provide the equal schooling for Negroes ordered by the supreme court in the Gaines decision," and that "the state has evaded its duty" in meeting that standard. Franklin writes that he has included recent copies of his paper which deal with the Bluford case, and suggests he himself should be interested in taking university extension classes in journalism, noting that as editor of a black newspaper, he is lacking in contacts "usual for newspaper men." At the time, Bluford was the managing editor of the Kansas City Call and her effort to gain admittance to the masters degree program at MU's School of Journalism, and repeated denials due to her race, lead to a case that eventually was heard before the Missouri Supreme Court.