Robert Abbott: The Defender

Robert Abbott

​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."  
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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.

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Abbott's Home in Chicago

Abbot Marker In Savannah