Robert Sengstacke Abbott created an extremely popular African American newspaper, making him one of the first Black millionaires.

 


Robert Sengstacke Abbott was a prominent publisher and founder of the Chicago Defender. Abbott became a self-made millionaire who advocated for racial equality through journalism. Robert Sengstacke Abbott realized the color of his skin was a roadblock in the area of law. He decided to change his career to enter the newspaper business. Abbott began selling the first issue of the Chicago Defender with an investment of 25 cents. The newspaper highlighted better opportunities for black southerners to migrate to the North. The Chicago Defender first appeared on 5 May 1905. It consisted of four pages, each with six columns. A streamer on the front page declared, “The Only Two-Cent Weekly In the City.” Robert had 300 copies printed, folding each himself. He managed to sell the entire printing. There are numerous examples of the influence upon Robert of the concept of the unity of humanity. Perhaps the most evident is found in a list of nine goals he formulated for inclusion in the Defender’s masthead, and which remained there long after his death. First on the list was “American race prejudice must be destroyed.” The list concluded with “Full enfranchisement of all American citizens.”

Five years before his death, Robert wrote the following editorial for the Defender which summarizes his greatest achievement and his expectations for the future:

“For twenty-five years I have hearkened to the sacred advice of my [step] father and have endeavored to give expression to my love for him, my Race and humanity through the columns of The Chicago Defender. I have been accused of red journalism, of insincerity, of incompetence, but in spite of all adversities I have faithfully and diligently striven to make known and alleviate the suffering of my people. I have endeavored to bring to the attention of the reading public all the inhuman treatment, discrimination, segregation, disenfranchisement, peonage and all other injustices directed at my people. I have not yielded to sentiment, but have endeavored, by the help of God, to serve aright as He gave me the ability to see the right. And, at the end of twenty-five years, I rejoice in the consolation and satisfaction which follows a successful pursuit in the task undertaken and the principles espoused. And now, thank God, the day is coming, yea, the day is almost here, when every land, from orient to Occident, from pole to pole, from mountain to shore, and from the shore to the farthest isle of the sounding sea, at last will throw off the yoke of doubt, forget biased conceptions of human rights, and join in glad acclaim by helping to usher in the glad era of an enlightened civilization and the universal acknowledgement of the brotherhood of man.”

Robert Sengstacke Abbott was a courageous man, who used his passion for equality to help African Americans. In creating the Chicago Defender, he gave a “new space for blacks to air their views and voice their discontent.” Abbott paved the way for popular black publications such as, Essence and Ebony and for this he will be remembered.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ethel Waters was the first African American to star in her own TV show.

Image
  Ethel Waters was an enormously popular jazz and blues singer from the 1920s until her death in 1977. She broke barriers in many cultural areas and created a path for Blacks to star on Broadway. Her quieter more interpretive style of presenting a song brought blues out of the jazz clubs and into the cultural mainstream. In 1950, Ethel Waters was the first black American performer to star in her own regular television show, Beulah, but it was the 1961 role in the “Good Night, Sweet Blues” episode of the television series Route 66 that earned her an Emmy award.   She was the first black so honored.   Acting was a second career after singing in four different genres—jazz, blues, pop, and gospel.   She performed on Broadway stages, the first black to receive top billing with white stars.   And finally, she claimed leading roles in Hollywood films, earning an Academy Award nomination for the film Pinky. Ethel Waters even conquered the publishing world, producing two autobiographies:   Hi
Read more

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African-American writer to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Image
Gwendolyn Brooks was one of the most influential and most recognized poets of the 20th century. She was known for her craftsmanship of the written word. She was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1950 and one of the first poets recognized by the Library of Congress. Brooks was known for her generosity to younger poets and for using the power of her pen to work for social justice. Gwendolyn Brooks was born on June 17, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas, but her family moved to Chicago when Brooks was young. Her father was a janitor and her mother a schoolteacher; both parents were strong supporters of their child’s love for reading and for writing poetry. By the time Brooks was 17, her poems were often published by the Chicago Defender, the newspaper that served Chicago’s African American citizens. She attended junior college and worked with the Chicago chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1968, Brooks was named poet laureate fo
Read more

What does Black History Month (BHM) mean to me?

Image
We celebrate Black History Month to recognize the sacrifices, contributions, and achievements of African Americans to the United States and the world. In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard-trained educator, working with the Association for the Study of Negro Life established Black History Week – an opportunity to honor the largely unknown contributions of those of African descent and to celebrate the essence of Black History. Many people may believe that black history in America is only slavery and the civil rights movement. However, black history is so much fuller than that. Our history is the Tuskegee Airmen, who displayed what prestigious aviators black men could be. Our history is Garret Morgan, who created the stoplight and the gas mask. Our history is Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, who invented the sanitary belt to help make an easier life for all women. Our history is Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, two ends of the same goal and the same fight. Our history is Maya Angelou a
Read more