Leon H. Washington Jr.

Leon H. Washington Jr.
Born	c. 1907 Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.
Died	June 17, 1974 Pasadena, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Washburn University
Occupation	Publisher
Spouse(s)	Ruth Brumell

Leon H. Washington Jr. (c. 1907 – June 17, 1974) was an American newspaper publisher. He was the founder and first publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African-American newspaper in Los Angeles, California.

Early life[]

Washington was born April 15, 1907 in Kansas City, Kansas.^[1] Washington was born on April 15th, 1907 in Kansas City, Kansas, to his parents, Leon and Blanche Washington. Washington grew up alongside his two other sisters, Juanita and Barbara. He attended Summer High School from 1921 to 1925 and after his graduation, he moved to Topeka, Kansas, to attend Washburn University.^[2]

After graduating from Washburn University, Washington became an independent clothing salesman. Following the promising career of his cousin, Washington moved to Los Angeles and began working under Charlotta Bass, owner of the California Eagle.

Personal Life[]

In 1940, Washington married one of the Sentinel’s photographers, Ruth Brumell. After almost a decade of marriage, Washington began to experience numerous health problems and eventually had a stroke, leaving him incapable of performing his job alone. Following his health problems, Washington looked to his wife to help manage his duties in the paper business and promoted her to the assistant publisher and business manager of the Sentinel. The duo worked diligently together for the remaining years of Washington’s life until he died on June 17th, 1974, at the age of 67. The widowed Ruth carried on the legacy of her husband for almost 17 years after her husband’s death, serving as the editor and publisher of the paper.

Career[]

In 1930 Washington moved to Los Angeles, California by recommendation of his cousin, civil rights attorney Loren Miller, who referred Washington to editor-owner of The California Eagle. At the time, The California Eagle was the longest-running and most circulated newspaper in the state. Washington became one of the newspaper’s advertising salesmen. Three years later, Washington left this position and started The Eastside Shopper, his first newspaper. This free circulation newspaper was most popular in Los Angeles’s Central Avenue district. After a year of publication, the paper’s circulation had reached the point where Washington could afford to change the name to the Los Angeles Sentinel and become subscription-based. The Sentinel would quickly grow to rival The California Eagle.

Originally, the Sentinel advocated for economic reform as a means of bringing about equality, and encouraged its mostly African-American audience to take up entrepreneurship. As a result of the widespread practice of white business owners to refuse to hire African-American workers in Los Angeles, Washington changed the direction of the publication to more directly call for nonviolent demonstrations, which he participated in personally. One of these protests led to his arrest by the still highly segregated Los Angeles Police Department,^[3] which only served to energize his growing following.

Washington continued to work as the publisher for the paper until he died in 1974. During his tenure, the Sentinel saw a peak circulation of 39,277 and Washington had built a staff of 50. Upon his death, his widow, Ruth, took over in his position and worked the job until she also died in 1990.

References[]

External links[]

• Biography BlackPast.org

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