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''The Chicago Defender'' is a
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
-based online
African-American newspaper African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are news publications in the United States serving African-American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-American period ...
. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
-era
violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...
and urged black people in the American South to settle in the north in what became the Great Migration. Abbott worked out an informal distribution system with
Pullman porters Pullman porters were men hired to work for the railroads as porters on sleeping cars. Starting shortly after the American Civil War, George Pullman sought out former slaves to work on his sleeper cars. Their job was to carry passengers’ bagg ...
who surreptitiously (and sometimes against southern state laws and mores) took his paper by rail far beyond Chicago, especially to African American readers in the
southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
. Under his nephew and chosen successor, John H. Sengstacke, the paper dealt with
racial segregation in the United States In the United States, racial segregation is the systematic separation of facilities and services such as housing, healthcare, education, employment, and transportation on racial grounds. The term is mainly used in reference to the legally or ...
, especially in the U.S. military, during World War II. Copies of the paper were passed along in communities, and it is estimated that at its most successful, each copy was read by four to five people. In 1919–1922, the ''Defender'' attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes; from the 1940s through 1960s, Hughes wrote an opinion column for the paper. Washington D.C. and international correspondent
Ethel Payne Ethel Lois Payne (August 14, 1911 – May 29, 1991) was an American journalist, editor, and foreign correspondent. Known as the "First Lady of the Black Press," she fulfilled many roles over her career, including columnist, commentator, lecturer, ...
, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, author
Willard Motley Willard Francis Motley (July 14, 1909 – March 4, 1965) was an American writer. Motley published a column in the African-American oriented ''Chicago Defender'' newspaper under the pen-name Bud Billiken. He also worked as a freelance writer, and ...
, music critic
Dave Peyton Dave Peyton (19 August 1889 – 30 April 1955) was an American songwriter, pianist, arranger, orchestra leader, and music critic columnist for the ''Chicago Defender''. Peyton first began as a pianist in the trio of Wilbur Sweatman, along wit ...
, journalists
Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...
,
L. Alex Wilson L. Alex Wilson (1909–1960) was an American journalist and editor who rose to prominence during the civil rights movement. He covered the Emmett Till murder for the African-American oriented, ''Chicago Defender'' chain, while serving as the edit ...
and
Louis Lomax Louis Emanuel Lomax (August 16, 1922 – July 30, 1970) was an African-American journalist and author. He was also the first African-American television journalist. Early years Lomax was born in Valdosta, Georgia. His parents were Emanuel C. Smi ...
wrote for the paper at different times. During the height of the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
era, it was published as ''The Chicago Daily Defender,'' a daily newspaper, beginning in 1956. It returned to a weekly paper in 2008. In 2019, its publisher, Real Times Media Inc., announced that the ''Defender'' would cease its print edition but continue as an online publication. The editorial board of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'', observing the impact ''The Defender'' has had in its 114 years, praised the continuation of the publication in its new form.


Foundation and social impact, role in the Great Migration

''The Chicago Defender's'' editor and founder
Robert Sengstacke Abbott Robert Sengstacke Abbott (December 24, 1870 – February 29, 1940) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher and editor. Abbott founded ''The Chicago Defender'' in 1905, which grew to have the highest circulation of any black-owned newspaper i ...
played a major role in influencing the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North by means of strong, moralistic rhetoric in his editorials and political cartoons, the promotion of Chicago as a destination, and the advertisement of successful black individuals as inspiration for blacks in the South. The rhetoric and art exhibited in the ''Defender'' demanded equality of the races and promoted a northern migration. Abbott published articles that were exposés of southern crimes against blacks. The ''Defender'' consistently published articles describing lynchings in the South, with vivid descriptions of gore and the victims' deaths. Lynchings were at a peak at the turn of the century, in the period when southern state legislatures passed new constitutions and laws to disenfranchise most blacks and exclude them from the political system. Legislatures dominated by conservative white Democrats established racial segregation and
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
. Abbott openly blamed the lynching violence on the white mobs who were typically involved, forcing readers to accept that these crimes were "systematic and unremitting". The newspaper's intense focus on these injustices implicitly laid the groundwork upon which Abbott would build his explicit critiques of society. At the same time, the NAACP was publicizing the toll of lynching at its offices in New York City. The art in the ''Defender'', particularly its political cartoons by Jay Jackson and others, explicitly addressed race issues and advocated northern migration of blacks. After the movement of southern blacks northward became a quantifiable phenomenon, the ''Defender'' took a particular interest in sensationalizing migratory stories, often on the front page. Abbott positioned his paper as a primary influence of these movements before historians would, for he used the ''Defender'' to initiate and advertise a "Great Northern Drive" day, set for May 15, 1917. The movement to northern and midwestern cities, and to the West Coast at the time of World War I, became known as the Great Migration, in which 1.5 million blacks moved out of the rural South in early 20th century years up to 1940, and another 5 million left towns and rural areas from 1940 to 1970. Abbott used the ''Defender'' to promote Chicago as an attractive destination for southern blacks. Abbott presented Chicago as a promised-land with abundant jobs, as he included advertisements "clearly aimed at southerners," that called for massive numbers of workers wanted in factory positions. The ''Defender'' was filled with advertisements for desirable commodities, beauty products and technological devices. Abbott's paper was the first black newspaper to incorporate a full entertainment section. Chicago was portrayed as a lively city where blacks commonly went to the theaters, ate out at fancy restaurants, attended sports events, including "cheering for the American Black Giants, black America's favorite baseball team", and could dance all night in the hottest night clubs. The ''Defender'' featured letters and poetry submitted by successful recent migrants; these writings "served as representative anecdotes, supplying readers with prototype examples... that characterized the migration campaign". To supplement these first-person accounts, Abbott often published small features on successful blacks in Chicago. The African American
mentalist Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precogniti ...
Princess Mysteria Princess Mysteria (stage name of Vauleda Hill Strodder, 1888 - March 14, 1930) was an African American mentalist, who wrote a regular column for ''The Chicago Defender''. Biography Vauleda Hill was born in an American family in 1888 and grew up in ...
had from 1920 to her death in 1930 a weekly column on the ''Defender'', called "Advise to the Wise and Otherwise." In 1923, Abbott and editor Lucius Harper created the
Bud Billiken Club The Bud Billiken Club was a social club for African–American youth in Chicago, Illinois, established in 1923, by the ''Chicago Defender'' founder Robert Sengstacke Abbott and its editor, Lucius Harper. The Bud Billiken Club was formed as part of ...
for black children through the "Junior Defender" page of the paper. The club encouraged the children's proper development, and reading ''The Defender''. In 1929, the organization began the
Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic The Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic (also known as The Bud Billiken Day Parade) is an annual parade held since 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. The Bud Billiken Day Parade is the largest African-American parade in the United States of America. Held annu ...
, which is still held annually in Chicago in early August. In the 1950s, under Sengstacke's direction, the Bud Billiken Parade expanded and emerged as the largest single event in Chicago. Today, it attracts more than one million attendees with more than 25 million television viewers, making it one of the largest parades in the country. In 1928, for the first time, ''The Defender'' refused to endorse a Republican Party presidential candidate. Throughout the election it ran a series of articles critical of the party, its failures to advance black civil rights, and what it saw as Republican's embrace or acquiescence in segregationism, party support in a revitalized Ku Klux Klan, and the Republican's
Lily White Movement The lily-white movement was an anti-black political movement within the Republican Party in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a response to the political and socioeconomic gains made by African-Americans foll ...
. The paper's final pre-election editorial read in part: “We want justice in America and we mean to get it. If 50 years of support to the Republican Party doesn’t get us justice, then we must of necessity shift our allegiance to new quarters.” For a variety of reasons, in the coming years, black support for the Republican Party fell rapidly.


Sengstacke era

Abbott took a special interest in his nephew, John H. Sengstacke (1912–1997), paying for his education and grooming him to take over the ''Defender,'' which he did in 1940 after working with his uncle for several years. He urged integration of the armed forces. In 1948, he was appointed by President
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
to the commission to study this proposal and plan the process, which was initiated by the military in 1949. Sengstacke also brought together for the first time major black newspaper publishers and created the National Negro Publishers Association, later renamed the
National Newspaper Publishers Association The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), formerly the National Negro Publishers Association, is an association of African American newspaper publishers from across the United States. History The NNPA was founded in 1940 when John H ...
(NNPA). Two days following the associations first meeting in Chicago, Abbott died. In the early 21st century, the NNPA consists of more than 200 member black newspapers. One of Sengstacke's most striking accomplishments occurred on February 6, 1956, when the ''Defender'' became a
daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
and changed its name to the ''Chicago Daily Defender'', the nation's second black daily newspaper. It immediately became the largest black-owned daily in the nation. It published as a daily until 2003, when new owners returned the ''Defender'' to a weekly publication schedule. The ''Defender'' was one of only three African American dailies in the United States; the other two are the ''
Atlanta Daily World The ''Atlanta Daily World'' is the oldest black newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, founded in 1928. Currently owned by Real Times Inc., it publishes daily online. It was "one of the earliest and most influential black newspapers." History Establ ...
'', the first black newspaper founded as a daily in 1928, and the New York ''Daily Challenge'', founded in 1971. In 1965, Sengstacke created a chain of newspapers, which also included the ''
Pittsburgh Courier The ''Pittsburgh Courier'' was an African-American weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1907 until October 22, 1966. By the 1930s, the ''Courier'' was one of the leading black newspapers in the United States. It was acqu ...
'', the Memphis ''
Tri-State Defender The ''Tri-State Defender'' is a weekly African-American newspaper serving Memphis, Tennessee, and the nearby areas of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. It bills itself as "The Mid-South's Best Alternative Newspaper". The ''Defender'' was fou ...
'', and the ''
Michigan Chronicle ''The Chronicle'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, editor of the ''Chicago Defender''. Together with the ''Defender'' and a handful of other African-American newspap ...
''. In a 1967 editorial, the ''Defender'' decried
anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
in the community, reminding readers of the role of Jews in the civil rights movement. "These powerful voices," the ''Defender'' wrote, "which have been lifted on behalf of the Negro peoples' cause, should not be forgotten when resolutions are passed by the black power hierarchy. Jews and Negroes have problems in common. They can ill-afford to be at one another's throats."


Real Times Inc.

Control of the ''Chicago Defender'' and her sister publications was transferred to a new ownership group named Real Times Inc. in January 2003. Real Times, Inc. was organized and led by Thom Picou, and Robert (Bobby) Sengstacke, John H. Sengstacke's surviving child and father of the beneficiaries of the Sengstacke Trust. In effect, Picou, then chairman and CEO of Real Times, Inc., led what was then labeled a "Sengstacke family-led" deal to facilitate trust beneficiaries and other Sengstacke family shareholders to agree to the sale of the company. Picou recruited Sam Logan, former publisher of the ''
Michigan Chronicle ''The Chronicle'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, editor of the ''Chicago Defender''. Together with the ''Defender'' and a handful of other African-American newspap ...
'', who then recruited O'Neil Swanson, Bill Pickard, Ron Hall and Gordon Follmer, black businessman from
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
(the "Detroit Group"), as investors in Real Times. Chicago investors included Picou, Bobby Sengstacke, David M. Milliner (who served as publisher of the ''Chicago Defender'' from 2003 to 2004), Kurt Cherry and James Carr. In July 2019, the ''Chicago Defender'' reported that recent print runs had numbered 16,000 but that its digital edition reached almost half a million unique monthly visitors.


See also

* Chicago Defender Building *
African American Newspapers African-American newspapers (also known as the Black press or Black newspapers) are news publications in the United States serving African-American communities. Samuel Cornish and John Brown Russwurm started the first African-American period ...
* ''
Destination Freedom ''Destination Freedom'' was a weekly radio program produced by WMAQ in Chicago from 1948 to 1950 that presented biographical histories of prominent African-Americans such as George Washington Carver, Satchel Paige, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tu ...
'' – a radio anthology supported by the ''Defender'' * Longview Race Riot * Bessye J. Bearden * Roscoe Simmons


References


Further reading

* Marshall, Jon, and Matthew Connor. "Divided Loyalties: The ''Chicago Defender'' and Harold Washington’s Campaign for Mayor of Chicago." ''American Journalism'' 36.4 (2019): 447–472. * * Washburn, Patrick S. ''The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom'' (Northwestern University Press, 2006); covers 1827–1900; emphasis on ''Pittsburgh Courier'' and the ''Chicago Defender''


External links

*
"''Chicago Defender'' celebrates 100 years in business"
– Karen E. Pride, ''Chicago Defender'', May 5, 2005
"''Chicago Defender'' photo exhibit looks back to the future"
– Coverage of star-studded opening for exhibition of ''Defender'' photography


The Chicago Defender’s Standing Dealers List (map, 1919)
* Samples of a few of the comic strips created for the ''Defender'

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Defender African-American history in Chicago African-American newspapers Newspapers published in Chicago Publications established in 1905 1905 establishments in Illinois