Kansas City Missouri 18th & Vine Lincoln High School

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"The Kansas City Call" was very significant in the fight for equal rights for African American citizens. It was a strong voice for change in society and within their community. Chester Franklin and Roy Wilkins fought hard for the black community to stand on its own, and to stand out in society. They, as well as others, knew that education was one of the most important aspects in keeping their community prosperous. The fight for education in the black community was best described by Roy Wilkins in the Kansas City Call. He wrote: "the black schools [in Kansas City] were much better than they had any right to be, partly because they were full of talented teachers who would have been teaching in college had they been white, and partly because Negro parents and children simply refused to be licked by segregation."

Lincoln High School was established in 1867 as a grade school in a building rented from the Second Congregation Church. It was the first school for black children on the Missouri side of the city. Despite not having desks, blackboards, and other basic items, students were required to take courses in reading, grammar, and history. In 1906, student enrollment reached 700 and a separate building was utilized at 19th and Tracy, making Lincoln High School the first all-black high school in Kansas City, Missouri. By 1929, the student body reached 1,100 and created overcrowding for the students in a building that was meant to accommodate 800 students. In 1931, the school district obtained a nine-acre hilltop property overlooking downtown at its current location. The new Lincoln High School opened in September of 1936 and was nicknamed "The Castle on the Hill." The school housed many classrooms, laboratory spaces, training rooms, and a business department. There was also an art room and music room to promote the creative arts as well as a wood shop class that offered vocational training. Lincoln High also offered night courses for adult education and 1,600 adult students attended thirty-two classes in 1935.

African Americans saw the value of education as a way to improve their lives. However, getting the school built did not come without challenges. With the student population growing at 19th and Tracy, the principal, H. O. Cook, the faculty, and the black community campaigned for a new building. In 1927, the Board of Education purchased the site at Woodland Avenue to serve as the location for a new high school. The bond issue failed to pass and lack of funds delayed construction even though the all-white school board supported the construction of two schools for white students. This did not sit well with the black community, especially the students at Lincoln High. One particular student and future editor of The Call, Lucile Bluford, wrote about the delays in funding and construction in the high school's newspaper. She zeroed in on the all-white school board as the reason she and her fellow students were not in a new school. She questioned why whites had six high schools to educate their children, and how Lincoln produced just as many graduates who attended college after graduation. She also stated that two of Lincoln's graduates were on the University of Kansas Honor roll. She called out the school board for ignoring those facts. Residents in the black community formed the Negro School Improvement Association, which put pressure on the school board to support the construction of the new school.

The importance of education to the African American community was transmitted through Lincoln. Lincoln High School graduated many impressive leaders, musicians, journalists, and educators. A list of notable graduates included Frank White, professional baseball player; Ollie Gates, owner of Gates BBQ; Bruce R. Watkins, first black funeral director, political leader, and first black candidate to run for mayor of Kansas City; Lucile Bluford, publisher and editor of the Kansas City Call; and Charlie Parker, one of the greatest alto saxophonists in the world thanks to his innovations in the "bebop" jazz style.

The Kansas City Call and Lincoln High School played very important roles in Kansas City's African American community and continue to play critical roles today. The Kansas City Call and its editors, C. A. Franklin, and later, Lucile Bluford, wrote about the challenges African Americans faced in their quest for political and social equality, but the paper also provided and continues to provide an important source for African American history in Kansas City. Lincoln High School continues to educate students in the twenty-first century and in 2012 the significance and history of the school was honored when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.