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How Montgall Avenue produced some of Kansas City's most important Black leaders

 Chester A. Franklin (center), owner of The Call, one of the most prominent Black-owned newspapers in the nation, lived on the 2400 block of Montgall. Here he's pictured in 1943 with the co-owner and founder of the Kansas City Monarchs.
Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas
Chester A. Franklin (center), owner of The Call, one of the city's first Black-owned newspapers, lived on the 2400 block of Montgall. Here he's pictured in 1943 with the co-owner and founder of the Kansas City Monarchs.

A stone’s throw away from Kansas City’s historic 18th and Vine district sits the 2400 block of Montgall Avenue. The now overlooked neighborhood was once home to some of the city’s most prominent Black figures of the 20th century.

Margie Carr's new book "Kansas City's Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home" takes an expansive look at a single residential block on the east side and the role it played, and still plays, in Black history.

"We do a disservice when we look at history and we don't look at the communities that created individuals," Carr said on KCUR's Up To Date.

Carr spoke with Up To Date host Steve Kraske about her new book "Kansas City's Montgall Avenue: Black Leaders and the Street They Called Home."

  • Margie Carr, freelance writer
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When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.
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