The Chicago Defender facts for kids
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| Type | Digital newspaper |
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| Format | 1905–2019; print 2019–present; online |
| Owner(s) | Real Times Inc. |
| Founder(s) | Robert S. Abbott |
| Founded | May 5, 1905 |
| Headquarters | 4445 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| ISSN | 0745-7014 |
The Chicago Defender is an important online newspaper for African Americans, based in Chicago. It was started in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott. This newspaper was once known as the "most important" of its kind.
Abbott's newspaper spoke out against unfair Jim Crow rules and violence. It also encouraged Black people in the American South to move North. This big move became known as the Great Migration. To get the paper to readers far away, Abbott used an unofficial system. Pullman porters, who worked on trains, secretly carried his paper to African American readers in the South.
Later, under Abbott's nephew, John H. Sengstacke, the paper focused on ending segregation, especially in the U.S. military during World War II. Many people shared copies of the paper. It's thought that each copy was read by four or five people.
Many famous writers worked for the Defender. These include Langston Hughes, Ethel Payne, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Ida B. Wells. During the Civil Rights Movement, starting in 1956, it was published every day as The Chicago Daily Defender. In 2008, it went back to being a weekly paper. In 2019, the Defender stopped printing copies but continued as an online newspaper.
Contents
The Defender and the Great Migration
The Chicago Defender and its founder, Robert Sengstacke Abbott, played a big role in the Great Migration. This was when many African Americans moved from the rural South to cities in the North. The newspaper used strong words and political cartoons to encourage this move. It also showed Chicago as a great place to live and highlighted successful Black people as role models.
Speaking Out for Equality
The Defender demanded equal rights for all races. It published articles that showed the terrible crimes committed against Black people in the South. The newspaper often wrote about lynchings, which were violent killings by mobs. These articles gave clear details of the victims' deaths. Lynchings were very common around the time Southern states passed new laws to stop most Black people from voting and to create Jim Crow segregation.
Abbott openly blamed the white mobs for this violence. He made sure readers understood that these crimes were happening all the time. The newspaper's focus on these wrongs helped Abbott build his strong criticism of society. At the same time, the NAACP also shared information about the impact of lynching.
The newspaper's art, especially political cartoons by Jay Jackson, clearly talked about race issues. These cartoons also encouraged Black people to move North.
Promoting a New Life in the North
As more Black people moved North, the Defender made these stories exciting, often putting them on the front page. Abbott even used the paper to start a "Great Northern Drive" day on May 15, 1917. This movement became known as the Great Migration. About 1.5 million Black people left the rural South by 1940, and another 5 million moved from 1940 to 1970.
Abbott used the Defender to show Chicago as an appealing place for Southern Black people. He described Chicago as a "promised land" with many jobs. The paper had ads for factory jobs that were clearly for people from the South. The Defender also featured ads for nice products, beauty items, and new technology. It was the first Black newspaper to have a full entertainment section. Chicago was shown as a lively city where Black people could go to theaters, eat at nice restaurants, attend sports events like baseball games, and dance in nightclubs.
The Defender also printed letters and poems from people who had successfully moved North. These stories gave readers examples of how the migration could change their lives. Abbott also wrote short articles about successful Black people in Chicago. For example, the African American mentalist Princess Mysteria wrote a weekly column called "Advise to the Wise and Otherwise" from 1920 to 1930.
Supporting Children and Community
In 1923, Abbott and editor Lucius Harper started the Bud Billiken Club for Black children. This club, part of the "Junior Defender" page, helped children grow well and encouraged them to read The Defender. In 1929, the club began the Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic. This parade is still held every August in Chicago. By the 1950s, under John Sengstacke, the Bud Billiken Parade became the largest event in Chicago. Today, it brings in over a million people and is one of the biggest parades in the country.
In 1928, for the first time, The Defender did not support a Republican Party candidate for president. The paper published articles that criticized the party for not helping Black civil rights. It also pointed out the Republican Party's support for segregation and the Ku Klux Klan. The paper's final editorial before the election said, "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." After this, Black support for the Republican Party quickly dropped.
The Sengstacke Era and Daily Publication
Robert Abbott took a special interest in his nephew, John H. Sengstacke (1912–1997). He paid for Sengstacke's education and prepared him to take over the Defender. Sengstacke became the head of the paper in 1940. He strongly pushed for the military to be integrated, meaning Black and white soldiers would serve together. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman asked Sengstacke to join a group that would plan how to integrate the armed forces. This process began in 1949.
Sengstacke also brought together major Black newspaper publishers. He created the National Negro Publishers Association, which is now called the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). Today, the NNPA has over 200 Black newspapers as members.
One of Sengstacke's biggest achievements happened on February 6, 1956. On this day, the Defender became a daily newspaper and changed its name to the Chicago Daily Defender. It was the second Black daily newspaper in the country and quickly became the largest Black-owned daily newspaper. It was published daily until 2003, when new owners made it a weekly paper again. The Defender was one of only three African American daily newspapers in the U.S. at that time.
In 1965, Sengstacke started a chain of newspapers. This included the Pittsburgh Courier, the Memphis Tri-State Defender, and the Michigan Chronicle.
In 1967, an editorial in the Defender spoke out against anti-Semitism (hatred of Jewish people) in the community. It reminded readers that Jewish people had played a role in the Civil Rights Movement. The Defender wrote that Jewish people and Black people had common problems and should work together.
The Defender Today
In January 2003, control of the Chicago Defender and its sister newspapers went to a new group called Real Times Inc.. This group was led by Thom Picou and Robert (Bobby) Sengstacke, who was John H. Sengstacke's son.
In July 2019, the Chicago Defender reported that it was printing about 16,000 copies. However, its online edition reached almost half a million different visitors each month. This shows how the newspaper has changed to reach readers in new ways.
