The Chicago Bee was founded by
Anthony Overton in 1925. Overton was a wealthy industrialist, owning such concerns as the
Overton Hygienic Company, a cosmetics firm. He had also made a previous venture in publishing, in the form of the
Half Century Magazine. After sharing quarters with the Hygienic Company in the 1920s, the
Bee moved into the new
Chicago Bee Building, an
Art Deco structure built between 1929 and 1931. However, after Overton's bank failed in the 1930s, the two businesses shared quarters once again, as the Hygienic Company moved into the
Bee building.
Chandler Owen became editor of the
Bee after moving to Chicago. The
Bee initially supported the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, which Owen supported, but later joined other publications including the
Chicago Defender in opposing the union. Subsequent editors of the paper included
Ida B. Wells and
Olive Diggs. The
Bees editorial staff was mostly female, and the newspaper covered the
black women's club movement extensively. It distinguished itself from other newspapers in the Chicago black press in its promotion of black history and literature. The
Bee sponsored the original "Mayor of Bronzeville" contest which led to the use of the term "Bronzeville" for the neighborhood. The concept was originally suggested by theater editor James Gentry, who coined the term and had been sponsoring a beauty contest in the neighborhood since 1916. When Gentry left the paper in 1932, he took his concept with him to the
Chicago Defender, which continued the contests. After Overton's death in 1946, the
Bee was briefly continued by his sons in a tabloid format, but was unsuccessful. It ceased publication in 1947. Very little of the
Bee survives today, apart from the building it occupied. One historian was unable to find a single intact issue from the years 1925 to 1935. ==References==