"Leon H. Washington Jr"(1907-1974)

Founding publisher of the Los Angeles based African-American newspaper,the sentinel,was was in Kansas City,Kansas.Along with his two other siblings,was born to parents, Leon and Blanche Washington.Leon Jr.spent much of his early life in Kansas City,Kansas,where he attended Summer High School from 1921 to 1925.Upon his graduation from high school,he soon moved to Topeka,Kansas,where he attended Washburn College (now Washburn University) from 1925 to 1929.Leon first first post college job was as an independent clothing salesman in Kansas City,Missouri.Leon moved to Los Angeles,California in 1930 at the urging of his cousin,Loren Miller,who was then building his own career as a prominent civil rights attorney in the city.Loren Miller,who was then building his own career as a prominent civil rights attorney in the city.He referred Leon to Charlotta Bass,the editor/owner of The California Eagle,then the oldest and largest black newspaper in the state.Leon accepted employment as an advertising salesman for the newspaper.After years,he left his advertising position and started his first newspaper,which he originally called The Eastside Shopper.This was a free-circulation newspaper that catered to African-American audiences,especially resident in the Central Avenue district.After a year,readership had increased,allowing Leon to change the name of the paper to the Sentinel and make it a subscription based publication.The Sentinel soon became a rival to the California Eagle.In 1940,Leon married the paper's photographer,Ruth Brumell by 1948,he experienced a string of health problems,which culminated in a stroke.This health scare forced him to appoint his wife as an assistant publisher,and business manager for the paper.In the first decades of its existence,Leon's Sentinel championed economic equality and entrepreneurship for its mostly African-American readers in the Los Angeles community.In 1949,Leon called for a series of non-violent demonstrations against white merchants who operated in the African-American community but who refused to hire black workers.Because he was jailed in one demonstrations,he subsequently became more widely admired in the local black community.Leon received the 1930s boycott slogan first heard in New York and Washington,D.C.,"Don't Spend Your Money Where You Can't Work."He was referred to many as a "Colonel."a rank bestowed upon him by the Kentucky Governor Bert T.Combs.Leon continued as acting publisher for the paper through the 1950s and 1960s.In 1972,it reached a peak of 39,277 and had a staff of 50.Two years later,he passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 67.Now his widow,Ruth,assumed complete control as both editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel.She served in that capacity until her death in 1990.The Sentinel is still in operation to this day.