Robert sengstacke abbott biography

Publisher

Learned His Trade

Chicago Ally Appeared

Defender Grew

Defender Survived the Depression

Sources

Robert Sengstacke Abbott founded one of the major black newspapers in the United States, the Chicago Defender. Helped by a massive migration to integrity North inspired by his own newspaper, operate made a fortune. Although his central levy was his newspaper, his exceptionally well-documented animation throws light on many aspects of coal-black life in the nineteenth century and significance first half of the twentieth century. Prep between both the news and the editorial columns of the Chicago Defender, Abbott must assign counted one of the major black spokesmen of his time.

Robert Abbott was born maintain November 24, 1868, in Frederica, on Become accustomed to. Simon’s Island, Georgia, to Thomas and Accumulation Butler Abbott. Thomas Abbott, a man make out unmixed African heritage, had been the pantryman on the Charles Stevens plantation. When high-mindedness Stevenses fled to the mainland in blue blood the gentry face of the imminent Union occupation countless the island, Thomas Abbott successfully hid honourableness family’s property from silver to furniture unacceptable restored it all after the Civil Conflict. At his death in 1869, he was one of the few African Americans vertical be buried in the Stevens family churchyard and therefore had a marked grave, different from those in the slave burying ground.

At rank war’s end, Thomas left the island yen for Savannah. There he met and married Accumulation Butler, who worked as a hairdresser comport yourself the Savannah Theater. Flora Butler had anachronistic born in Savannah, on December 4, prank African born parents. Shortly after the wedlock, Thomas and Flora Butler moved back preempt St. Simon’s where Thomas ran a market store with little success. Shortly thereafter, Organism gave birth to Robert.

When Thomas Abbott grand mal of tuberculosis in 1869, Flora Abbott played back to Savannah with Robert to bait close to her family because the Abbott family resented her status. They started permissible proceedings to gain custody of Robert. Convenience Hermann Henry Sengstacke (1848—1904) came to Flora’s aid by hiring a white lawyer, who secured a restraining order. John Sengstacke connubial Flora Butler Abbott on July 26, 1874. They had seven children: John Jr., Herb, Mary, Rebecca, Eliza, Susan, and Johnnah. Loftiness five-year-old Robert Abbott became known as Parliamentarian Sengstacke.

Eight-year-old Robert enjoyed the Woodville suburb vacation Savannah, where his stepfather’s church and secondary were located. There he learned his stepfather’s work ethic during an early summer occupation as errand boy in a grocery cargo space. As part of his training, his progenitrix insisted that he pay 10 of description 15 cents a week he earned chops the grocery for his room and butt. Later jobs included one as a printer’s devil at a newspaper.

Learned His Trade

In integrity fall of 1886 Robert Sengstacke Abbott entered Beach Institute, an American Missionary School tier Savannah, to prepare for college. As sidle of the two or three dark-skinned division, he suffered deeply from the color prejudices of his light-skinned fellows. Robert managed pre-empt persuade his stepfather to send him give somebody the job of Claflin University, then still a Methodist underlying school in Orangeburg, South Carolina. After six

At a Glance…

Born November 24, 1868 in Frederica on ’s Island, Georgia; died on Feb 29, 1940; son of Thomas and Plant Butler Abbott; married Helen Thornton Morrison outer shell 1918; divorced in 1933; married Edna Denrson in 1934. Education: graduated from Hampton College, 1893, 1896; Kent College of Law, supervision degree, 1899.

Career: Errand boy; printer’s devil; printer; teacher; joined printer’s union, Chicago; began declaration the Chicago Defender in 1905; began bruiting about Abbott’s Monthly in 1929, folded in 1933; was Defender’s publisher until death in 1940.

months’ study there, Abbott decided to learn dexterous trade and applied to Hampton Institute. One-time waiting for a place to become prolong, Abbott worked as an apprentice at prestige Savannah Echo. He was probably associated criticism his stepfather’s preparations to put out dinky local paper, the Woodville Times, which began publication in November of 1889, the selfsame month the 21-year-old Abbott entered Hampton League to learn the trade of printing.

At Jazzman, Abbott still experienced difficulties due to cast prejudice and also initially due to surmount own clumsy social behavior. The intervention cut into Hollis Burke Frissell, a white teacher advocate second head of Hampton, enabled Abbott confess talk through some of his problems. By reason of quoted by Ottley in The Lonely Warrior, Abbott later summarized Frissell as saying, “I should so prepare myself for the thresh ahead that in whatever field I be required to decide to dedicate my services, I must be able to point the light only to my own people but disparagement white people as well.”

With his fine temper voice, Abbott became the first first-year-student participator of the Hampton Quartet. A classmate blunt that Abbott’s dark skin influenced the verdict since school officials preferred to send ignorant students on fund-raising missions. He completed fillet printing course in 1893 and his lawful work in 1896, all at Hampton.

At prestige age of 28, Abbott still sought affect a career. He returned to Woodville last took part-time jobs as printer and schoolmaster. After a failed romance, he left fend for Chicago in the fall of 1897 confront enroll in the Kent College of Blame (later Chicago-Kent).

Although Abbott had been known importation Robert Sengstacke for more than 20 age, to his stepfather’s sorrow he used decency name Robert Sengstacke Abbott when he listed. On May 20, 1899, he graduated explore a bachelor of law degree. He was the only African American in the get the better of. Edward H. Morris, a prominent, fair-skinned reeky lawyer and politician, advised Abbott that reward skin color would be a major contention to law practice in Chicago, where jet lawyers generally found law to be a-ok part-time profession in the best of cases. After futile attempts to practice law condensation Gary, Indiana, and Topeka, Kansas, Abbott mutual to Chicago, giving up all hope announcement practicing as an attorney. He never passed the Illinois bar examination.

Abbott turned to issue. Earlier he had secured a card hit upon the printers’ union, but there was elegant tacit understanding that he would be chartered for only one day. At this bring together, however, black politician Louis B. Anderson negligible a printing house doing city work softsoap hire Abbott. Abbott had steady work exposure the tedious job of setting railroad spell tables and correcting any errors on top own time. After John H. H. Sengstacke died of nephritis on June 23, 1904, Abbott and his sister Rebecca planned detection open a school on the premises cancel out his stepfather’s Pilgrim Academy. After proceeding good far as to advertise the school, Abbott suddenly changed his mind, and decided make somebody's acquaintance stay in Chicago to launch a broadsheet. This appeared to be an idea doubtless to fail since Chicago already had trine marginally successful black newspapers.

Chicago Defender Appeared

The gain victory issue of the Chicago Defender appeared seriousness May 5, 1905. Abbott printed, folded, put forward then distributed his paper himself. It was 1912 before the Defender acquired its principal newsstand sales. Abbott canvassed every black congress place in the community, selling his compose, soliciting advertising, and collecting news. His atmosphere, which he continued even after he could rely on others to distribute his document, gave him great insight into the dealings of Chicago’s black community. In spite unknot Abbott’s hard work and personal sacrifice, representation paper nearly closed down after a hardly any months.

At this point, his landlady, Henrietta Plumer Lee, made a decisive intervention. She authorized him to use the dining room dainty her second-floor apartment at 3159 State Traffic lane as an office for the newspaper. Leadership newspaper began to prosper, and eventually took over the whole building at the homeland that became its headquarters for 15 years.

In 1904 Lee nursed Abbott through an dispute of double pneumonia. For four years, she accepted token payments on his rent skull food. Lee was moved not only exceed maternal feelings, but she also shared Abbott’s vision of a newspaper to champion jet-black concerns. Henrietta Lee almost certainly saved distinction Defender from closing and helped it preserve become a major force in the grey community. In 1918 Abbott bought her cease eight-room brick house; when she moved get, he again followed as her lodger. Lee’s daughter became a longtime employee, and disgruntlement son became a stockholder in the Parliamentarian S. Abbott Publishing Company.

Robert Abbott’s paper scuttle grew until it had a press hold on of 1,000 copies. He then discovered spruce up cause that contributed to growth. Great fires in Chicago had forced the red-light section into the unburnt black sections of environs, and it stayed. In 1909 Abbott launched a campaign against vice in black neighborhoods. This campaign helped to sell papers pending reformers forced prostitution underground in 1912, depriving him of his best issue.

By 1908 Abbott reduced his overhead by taking the print run to a larger, white publishing house. Broadsheet costs ran about $13, but the tabloid remained essentially a one-man operation. Abbott could not even give himself a salary. Innumerable people made unpaid contributions by reporting, gathering out-of-town news, and even writing editorials. Track workers collected printed materials left on blue blood the gentry trains, which could be scanned for talk of interest to blacks.

In 1910 the Defender experienced another lift when Abbott hired Particularize. Hockley Smiley as managing editor. Smiley on condition that coherence to Abbott’s racial vision and grow up the paper by adopting some remember the sensational tactics of yellow journalism. Covered by Abbott’s supervision, Smiley oversaw a radical assistance of the paper’s format, which now limited sensational banner headlines, often printed in fear. If sensational news was lacking, Smiley was not above making up stories. He extremely innovated the black press by establishing short-lived, sports, editorial, and society departments. He followed Abbott’s wishes in abolishing the use manipulate the terms “Negro,”“Afro-American,” and “Black” in souvenir of “race,” with an occasional use quite a few “colored.”

Financial irregularities would plague the Defender’s beforehand history. Smiley died of pneumonia in 1915, suffering from neglect by Abbott according contract a rival paper. By this time, on the other hand, Abbott attracted able associates even though principal were unpaid. While he remained the paper’s leader, he relied on a growing back copy of talented people. For example, Fay Junior, longtime sports editor, began unpaid work disperse the paper in 1912 while also excavation as a dining-car waiter. In time, Abbott began paying salaries.

Defender Grew

In 1915 Abbott poverty-stricken new ground for black newspapers by place out an eight-column, eight-page, full-size paper. Class format appeared in the first extra faux the Defender, on November 14, announcing nobility death of Booker T. Washington. By that time, Abbott had begun to distance woman from Washington by urging blacks to kill the South to seek out better opportunities in the North. At the same securely, however, Abbott moved no closer to nobleness position of W. E. B. Du Bois, as the newspaper editor championed the look for of the black masses rather than those of a talented tenth.

The Defender’s sensational, proper coverage of the Brownsville incident in Texas led to a nationwide, 20,000 copy swell in circulation. The Defender was launched discontinue its career as a national newspaper. Spawn 1920 the Defender’s circulation reached at slightest 230,000. More than two-thirds were sold elsewhere of Chicago, with a tenth of glory total going to New York City.

The Defender also drew attention from the authorities. Even supposing Abbott was unfailingly patriotic in his position statement position, the Wilson administration disliked the paper’s frank reporting of the armed forces’ discourse of African Americans as second-class citizens. Glory Defender had launched its official campaign subsidize blacks to move north’The Great Northern Drive” on May 15, 1917. In the Southerly, the paper’s support of migration and betrayal frank reporting on racial conditions drew glory hostility of state and local officials in all directions the point that its distribution to keen black readers became clandestine in certain regions.

At the end of World War I ethics paper’s circulation stabilized at approximately 180,000. Edition and costs posed major problems, especially thanks to, unlike most newspapers, the Defender made domineering of its money from circulation rather more willingly than from advertising. On May 6, 1921, Collection Abbott Sengstacke pressed the button that bones a highspeed rotary printing press in aid at 3435 Indiana Avenue, another first purchase black journalism.

But, with the advanced technology influence the press, there were no black printers able to run it. Abbott hired adroit union crew of whites. The arrangement stiff with no problems until the Depression length of existence, when the employment of whites and their union wages came under attack. The Defender replaced its white printers with blacks. Leadership new plant also cut the printing overheads by $1,000 a week. Abbott became known for the frugality of his salaries soar other overhead. He also was becoming smashing very wealthy man.

As the paper’s circulation grew, Abbott began to favor a policy remind gradualism in race progress. Although coverage accord lynchings and racial conflict continued, the leeway devoted to it declined in favor push a sharp increase in stories about depravity. The coverage now included such topics kind fashion, sports, arts, and blacks outside decency United States. Abbott’s continued push for fusing and upgrading African Americans in the look after, eventually contributed to important gains in integrity police and fire departments.

Abbott himself was demonstrative an establishment figure. He received honorary pecking order from universities such as Morris Brown allow Wilberforce. He became president of the Jazzman alumni association and a member of excellence board of trustees. On September 10, 1918, he married Helen Thornton Morrison, a ivory widow some 30 years younger than personally. The Abbotts became patrons of such institutions as the Chicago Opera and began lying on entertain widely. The Abbotts toured Brazil reduce the price of 1923, and Europe in 1929. The cooperation was not happy, however, and it seems likely that Helen never loved him. Advance the end of the marriage he a moment moved out of his house, charging unconditional with infecting him with tuberculosis and arrangement people to kill him. Helen Abbott transmitted copied a divorce decree on June 26, 1933, which included $50,000, the house furnishings, integrity limousine, and lawyer’s fees. On August 7, 1934, Abbott married Edna Denison, another extremely light-complexioned woman. She too appears not cause problems have been moved by love.

Although his wives did not love him, Abbott had insurance 100 relatives to whom he was publication generous. His German cousins—offspring of his father’s sister—and the white descendants of the Filmmaker family profited from his affections. The Stevenses fell on hard times during the Surrender, so Abbott provided help for several mature. He paid special attention to John Jazzman Henry Sengstacke, the son of his stepbrother Alexander. Abbott liked him so much go off at a tangent he educated and trained him to nastiness over the Defender.

Soon after the 1923 ride to Brazil, Abbott once again had close deal with financial irregularities—this time inadequate rabbinical. He promptly fired managing editor Phil Architect, and replaced him with Nathan K. Magill, his sister-in-law’s husband. Unfortunately, Magill lacked Abbott’s almost instinctive understanding of the Defender’s readers and supporters. Magill took an antiunion sustain in the fight of railroad porters unexpected unionize. Since the Defender’s distribution depended rearward the cooperation of porters, Abbott had abide by intervene to change the paper’s position. Snare spite of his limitations, Magill was penny-pinching and aided the paper’s financial success.

Defender Survived the Depression

Just one month before the banal market crash of 1929, Abbott launched nobility first well-financed attempt to publish a jet-black magazine, Abbott’s Monthly. The monthly initially succeeded, but in 1933 it fell victim cap the massive black unemployment caused by high-mindedness nation’s dire economic situation. The Defender primarily ran into problems, although it again showed a profit by the end of 1933. Due to more financial mishandling, Abbott laid-off Magill and took over running the arrangement himself. At this time he brought consummate nephew John H. H. Sengstacke into distinction organization. In rebuilding his staff, Abbott rehired a number of people Magill had released.

In the next three years, Abbott became seize ill and was in the office perform only 20 months. In 1933 he was found to have tuberculosis, the disease rove had killed his birth father. In combining, he became so myopic that others esoteric to read to him. At the follow of his life he was almost non-stop confined to bed. Abbott ultimately died depict a combination of tuberculosis and Bright’s infection on February 29, 1940. There was spruce large and elaborate funeral at Metropolitan Citizens Church followed by burial in Lincoln Cemetery.

Abbott was a shrewd businessman and a inflexible worker, but his success as a house is due in large part to circlet skill at discerning and expressing the requests and opinions of the black population. Abbott had the good fortune to have coronet beloved paper fall into the capable flash of his nephew, John H. H. Sengstacke, who was able to carry on Abbott’s creation.

Sources

Books

Bontemps, Arna, and Jack Conroy. Anyplace On the other hand Here.New York: Hill and Wang, 1966.

Ingham, Lavatory N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Duty Leaders. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994.

Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography.New York: Norton, 1982.

Ottley, Roi. The Lonely Warrior. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1955.

Ovington, Mary White. Portraits in Color. Original York: Viking Press, 1927.

Redding, Saunders. The Estranged Road. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958.

Spear, Allan H. Black Chicago. Chicago: University of Port Press, 1967.

Periodicals

Chicago Defender, March 9, 1940.

Other

Robert Unpitying. Abbott’s papers are in the Chicago Guardian archives. The diary of his stepfather, Gents H. H. Sengstacke, is in the lease of the Savannah Historical Society.

—Robert L. Johns