The Kansas City Call and its longtime editor and publisher, Lucile Bluford, epitomized the role of the African American press in the civil rights movement. The newspaper advocated forcefully for the political and economic interests of its readers, forging relationships with such key organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Beneath outward displays of unity, however, were internal disagreements between the press and activist groups about what direction the fight for equality would take and, often, who should be its voice. Earnest L. Perry Jr., an associate professor of journalism at the University of Missouri, examines that struggle, what it entailed for Bluford and The Call, and the implications for today’s social justice movement.

The event coincides with the exhibit Justice Postponed Is Justice Denied: Lucile Bluford and the Campaign for Educational Equality on display through May 31 at the Central Library.