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The Chicago Defender
Aryan Tibrewala Would you move across the country based on the urgings of a newspaper? Now imagine having that kind of influence over an entire race, or even an entire country of people. The power of the media is, and was, often underestimated, but can prove to be domineering as Robert S. Abbott found out. Abbott had a vision and a sole purpose in founding The Chicago Defender, the most prominent black newspaper in the history of Illinois and the United States. The paper articulated Abbott's ideas and philosophies. His paper's slogan describes it all, "American race prejudice must be destroyed." As the name implies, the paper defended, and still defends, the entire African-American race. Robert S. Abbott decided upon a newspaper because his stepfather, John H. H. Sengstrackle, told him a newspaper was the strongest weapon for an African American. Abbott had also observed a general melancholy among African Americans and hoped the newspaper would change this. Publishing out of a small kitchen, Abbott began the weekly Chicago Defender in 1905, producing about 300 copies at 25 cents apiece, according to the internet site, PBS: Newspapers. In 1910 Abbott hired J. Hockley Smiley for the Defender, attracting a national audience. Smiley's methods included extravagant headlines, dramatizing articles, militant editorials, and satirizing cartoons, all of which appealed not only to a black reader, but also to the black masses. The paper's numbers reached 230,000 in circulation nationally, and by World War I, two-thirds of the Defender's readers were located outside Chicago. In terms of impact on the African Americans, author Roi Ottley writes, "The Chicago Defender was second to only one other piece of literature, the Bible." Abbott's most successful campaign brought thousands of southerners to the North from 1915 to 1925. This epoch is known as the Great Migration, during which the Chicago Defender influenced over one million blacks to migrate to the north. From 1916 to 1918, more than 110,000 southern blacks came to the city of Chicago alone. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the newspaper gave southerners a new hope and purpose. Based in the liberal North, the Defender was able to be significantly more outrageous and militant. Headlines such as, "Millions Prepare to Leave the South Following Brutal Burning of Human," were used to urge people to the North. Images of the North's best schools were shown adjacent to those of the South's worst schools. Articles described the horrendous conditions of the South compared to comfortable lifestyles in the North. Even job listings and train schedules were given to provide blacks with specifics on the movement. The paper synchronized the Great Migration with historical and religious events, making it that much more significant and relevant to African Americans. The North had ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 2001 17
suddenly become "The Promised Land," as the Defender called it. The Defender even declared May 15, 1917, the date of the "Great Northern Drive." Hundreds of people wrote to the Chicago Defender, looking to the paper to provide them with the hope and means to travel north. As one letter written anonymously in Selma, Alabama on May 19, 1917, stated, "I am a reader of the Chicago Defender I think it is one of the Most Wonderful Papers of our race printed. Sirs I am writing to see if you all will please get me a job .... Sir I will thank you all with all my heart." There are hundreds of pleas like this one. The Chicago Defender also provided excellent coverage of what came to be known as the Red Summer Riots of 1919. This was a time of racism and numerous lynchings. According to William Tuttle, 38 people were killed in Chicago and more than 500 injured from both races. The race riots in Chicago began on July 27, 1919, when whites began to hurl rocks at blacks on the beach. For five days, white gangs shot, beat, and stabbed their victims. Some white policemen even refused to assist the blacks. Overall, in 1919 economic, political, and social tensions caused 78 lynchings across the country, more than any other year since then. The Defender utilized these tensions to illustrate the necessity of equal rights. S.L. Jones, a black teacher in Longview, Texas, prompted a group of white men to riot when they thought he had sent news to the Defender. The Defender used this riot and others during the Red Summer Riots to print stories of the struggle and depravity blacks continued to face, and to push for anti-lynching legislation. The Chicago Defender influenced not only blacks, but also whites in the South. Author Lee Finke wrote, "When a white man reads a Negro paper for the first time, it hits him like a bucket of cold water in the face." Since so many blacks were migrating north, southern whites did not want to lose all of their labor force. They increased recruitment of blacks by providing better pay and more livable conditions. Many simply forbid blacks to go north. Regardless, whites generally condemned the paper and even forbid the sale and circulation of the Chicago Defender in certain states. In one way or another, though, blacks tried to read a copy of the paper every week. Robert S. Abbott achieved tremendous success with the Chicago Defender and became a millionaire. This served as a catalyst for the development of more black newspapers and eventually led to the creation of the Associated Negro Press. It even changed black newspapers. They focused more on news and matters that concerned black readers the most. After moving into a new plant later in the mid-twentieth century, the Chicago Defender called itself "The World's Greatest Weekly." The Chicago Defender was the most influential black newspaper ever printed. From 1905 to 1925, the paper served as the voice of an entire race. Blacks desperately needed someone to speak out for them. The Chicago Defender served that purpose. Undeniably, this paper played an essential role not only in the history of African-Americans, but also in that of the city of Chicago and that of the United States. Robert S. Abbott wanted to better the condition of African-Americans in the United States by founding the Chicago Defender. The creation of this paper pushed American society one step closer to achieving racial equality.—[From anonymous, Letter to Robert S. Abbott, May 19, 1917; Chicago Defender, May 26, 1917, December 2, 1955; "The Chicago Defender," PBS: Newspapers; http:// www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/ defender. html; Lee Finke, Forum for Protest; Hogan D. Lawrence, A Black National News Service; Roi Ottley, The Lonely Warrior; William M. Tuttle, "Red Summer: 1919"; American History, Volume II.] 18 ILLINOIS HISTORY / DECEMBER 2001 |
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