​The Chicago Defender was once the greatest black paper in the United States. Few know of its connection to Savannah. The founding editor was Robert Abbott November 24, 1870 – February 29, 1940. He was raised here in Savannah (born in St. Simon’s Island) in the old Woodville community.

His father died when he was one. His mother Flora was struggling with other family over custody of Robert. His future stepfather John Sengstacke assisted her in the lawsuit and also married Flora. It was then that Robert moved to Savannah.

Robert Sengstacke Abbott was an African-American lawyer, newspaper publisher and editor. Abbott founded The Chicago Defender, which grew to have the highest circulation of any black-owned newspaper in the country. His new stepfather would become a great influence and help in his development. John was a Congregationalist Minister whose views were progressive. He once wrote "There is but one church, and all who are born of God are members of it. God made a church, man-made denominations. God gave us a Holy Bible, disputing men made different kinds of disciples.” John was an activist working to educate the black population of Woodville a small black community outside of Savannah. Today Woodville has been annexed by Savannah. He also founded a local paper called the Woodville Times. It would be John who financially supported Robert’s education at Hampton Institute in Virginia.

Robert would become a star student at Hampton. He sang with the Hampton Choir and Quartet. It was on a tour with the Quartet to the Chicago World’ Fair that he heard Frederick Douglas. Douglas in his speech inspired young Robert that he would do something to help his race. He was slowly developing the idea of a black newspaper that would be the advocate for the black community in the United States. He earned a law degree at Kent College in Chicago.

On a trip back to Savannah he saw the beginnings of the great Migration of blacks out of the South. This made him realize he wanted to be in Chicago where many blacks were migrating. He saw the possibility of Chicago having a strong black community to support a paper that would work as the advocate for Blacks everywhere.

On May 5, 1905 The Defender the self-proclaimed ‘World’s Greatest Weekly" was started. Its slogan and first goal was that American race prejudice must be destroyed. Abbott began his journalistic enterprise with an initial investment of 25 cents, a press run of 300 copies, and worked out of a small kitchen in his landlord's apartment.

The newspaper would be the greatest promoter of the Great Migration encouraging Blacks of the South to move North. It also exposed lynching, gave a place for such writers as Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes, promoted black politicians, pushed for integration of civil and defense jobs, and basically giving a strong, political, and social voice to the black community.  

Its circulation grew dramatically as the famous Pullman Porters of the railroad distributed it along the cities they traveled and worked. The Defender circulation reached 50,000 by 1916; 125,000 by 1918; and more than 200,000 by the early 1920s. Because the Defender was passed from person to person and was read by four to five African Americans its readership was approximately 500,000. It was the first black newspaper to have a health column, and a full page of comic strips. 

Because of its success Abbott became one of the first millionaires of African-American descent. Abbott founded the Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic in 1929, which is an annual celebration for youth, education and African–American life in Chicago, Illinois. It is also where every politician of Chicago and elsewhere goes to seek the black vote. One of those politicians was Barak Obama as he made his Senate run.

Abbott died in Chicago on February 29, 1940, He designated his Savannah-born nephew John H. Sengstacke his successor. The soft-spoken "country boy" who became a major shaper of African American culture would have relished Hughes's later characterization of his newspaper as "the journalistic voice of a largely voiceless people."  
​
John H. Sengstacke, Abbott’s successor, would found and become the first president of the National Negro Publishers Association; now known as the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
In 2008 the Georgia Historical Society and the city of Savannah erected a historical marker in Savannah at the corner of West Bay and Albion streets, where Abbott's childhood home—the parsonage for Pilgrim Congregational Church—was once located. Robert Abbott is yet another black Savannahian whose life influenced the cultural and civil rights of the larger black community.

​One could say that Tomochichi and Mary Musgrove are the founders of Georgia. They were encouraged to settle in the Savannah area years before Oglethorpe by the Carolina colony at the bequest of the Governor. Their settlement of a part of the land between the Spanish and British would help solidify the “Debatable Lands” as being the British.  So when Oglethorpe came up the Savannah River looking for a place to build the first city in the colony, he came to the Yamacraw Bluff where Mary and Tomochichi already had settled.

Not only would Tomochichi and Mary grant him the very ground beneath their feet they would also ensure the colony survived. It would be Tomochichi who would convince the Creeks to let Savannah exist in peace. He would be the peacemaker and ally of Oglethorpe. He would be the voice to let the Creeks know they should seek peace with the English. The Creeks should learn the English ways. He also would guide Oglethorpe where to establish the southern borders of Georgia, where to construct the first roads of Georgia, and when the in trouble Oglethorpe needed him to travel to England to impress the Trustees he went.

Mary acted as translator and go between Oglethorpe and the Creeks. She would also be the hand that literally fed the early colonists with the food from her farms before they learned to grow and harvest their own crops. She was the advisor to the local military of threats that might be coming from the Native Americans or Spanish. She also provided and recruited braves to fight with Oglethorpe or act as scouts. She provided supplies and money to the colonists for their military defense. And more importantly for some, her trading posts were the only place one could find rum in the colony.

Mary and Tomochichi were the forces that ensured the colonists and Oglethorpe’s endeavors were fruitful. A point in fact Mary would remain in the colony for the rest of her life while Oglethorpe went back to England and never came back. Both Mary and Tomochichi would die here in the colony unlike Oglethorpe. Tomochichi would even be buried in the center of Savannah, to symbolically and literally show that he and the Creeks were a part of the new colony. As for Mary she would be buried on St. Catherine’s Island.

So how have these two founders been treated in history? Both would be lauded as helpers not equals to Oglethorpe. Tomochichi’s grave would literally have in a historical moment of irony a railroad man’s monument placed on his grave. Mary would be vilified as a nasty woman when she demanded to be repaid money and land she was promised.
​
So it is with a smile that I say if you want to know more about the Creeks of Savannah and Georgia there is a book called Native American History of Savannah for sale.

​As I have mentioned before, just as there are things in our homes we cling to even when they have passed their time of usefulness, our city has things they cannot rid themselves. One of these is the Old Harbor Light. It was once a beacon of light standing on the cliff above the harbor.

 In its day it served to guide ships coming into the port at Savannah away from several vessels sunk in the river channel by the British during the Revolutionary War. The British scuttled these ships in 1779 to close the harbor to the French naval forces.  The light itself was constructed on Savannah’s eastern bay in 1858 as a rear range light. It stood 77 feet above the river level and was illuminated by gas. In the late 1860s the channels through the river changed and the Old Harbor Light was declared unnecessary. There it sat for many years suffering the ravages of time. In 1869 the light was moved a few feet south because it was in the way. The light was refurbished in 1929. It received its current moniker of Old Harbor Light by a mistaken reporter who called it such in an article he wrote in the 1930s about Savannah. The moniker stuck and is still called that by the locals.

 It was turned off during World War II. It was turned off because it was thought it might enable German U-boats and airplanes to better see the harbor and enable them to commit their misdeeds. During WW II the whole of River Street was unlit during the night to help conceal the making of the Liberty Ships. The light was never turned back on after the war.

Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, a Charleston Renaissance Painter, did an etching and painting of the Old Harbor Light which was printed in the Savannah Morning News in the sixties. But through the years despite its decay its presence was never forgotten. Then in 2000 with contributions of $125,000 from the Savannah Morning News and CSX Corporation it was taken down. The rust was removed, repairs were made, it was repainted, and the light was cleaned. It was re-erected and relit on January 11, 2001. Today it sits on the east bluff end of Emmett Park. By its side are discarded old anchors and plantings by a local garden club. It sits in what has become a peaceful corner in our city.
​
It stands as a beacon of light to remind us of the old times here are not forgotten. It shows we treasure the old as much as we love the new.