Skip to main content

Black History Month: Robert S. Abbott

 Robert S. Abbott

Defender of the Race

Most grade school children can state what Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall accomplished during their lifetimes.  Yet, we tend to forget about other heroes.  Throughout this month, let us consider all who sacrificed to end segregation and tried to put an end to racial inequalities.  One of these heroes was Robert S. Abbott.

Enjoy trivia?  Here's one for you: In what American newspaper would you find the first comic strip?  The answer might surprise you, as it is the first African American newspaper, the Chicago Defender owned and run by an attorney unable to practice due to his race, Robert S. Abbot.  His paper was the first for publishing many things including a health column and circulation of over 100,000.  Much more important than that was his focus.  

He began his venture in 1905 and quickly built up quite a following, mostly in the Chicago area.  By 1910, with the assistance of his first and only employee, he covered racial issues not found in other publications.  Lynchings, rapes, and equally disturbing violence dominated his headlines.  Atypical of the times, he never used the word, Negro, in these articles preferring to use "Race men and Race women". 

Mr. Abbott played his part in the Great Migration, encouraging – through his paper – a black migration for better living conditions in the north.  WW1 and immigration laws slowed the flow of qualified workers had created many job opportunities.  Therefore, the time was right for over a million African Americans to migrate from the south to better jobs in the north.

As race riots erupted across the country in 1919, he pushed for anti-lynching legislation; still, no federal law exists.  With readership growing daily, columnists joined the Defender like early NAACP member and fighter for civil rights,  Walter White, and novelist, poet, and writer Langston Hughes.   

Mr. Abbott passed on in 1940 from kidney disease but his campaign for equal rights carried on through his nephew John H. Sengstacke who grew the paper into the largest and most-read black-owned newspaper in the world. 

Keep Reading

Black & Women's History: Mary Ellen Pleasant (1812'ish-1904)

"I Have a Dream" Speech Opened My Eyes to the Real World

Cultural Insight: Who Are The Navajo of Arizona

Picture: Unknown - http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/defender.html


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Food Review: Trader Joe’s Animal Crackers

Tub of Fun Found in Trader Joe's Animal Crackers If you are like me, every time I see a box of animal crackers, I relive my childhood years of drooling over a box decorated as if it is a red circus boxcar filled with exotic animals.    My favorite cookie/cracker was the elephant.   Therefore, when I noticed a tub --yes an entire tub-- of animal cookies on a Trader Joe’s shelf, I squealed like a little girl and promptly tossed one in my cart. As a fan of simple English style cookies, Trader Joe’s Organic Animal Crackers are a perfect fit for me.  They are crunchy, light, great with hot beverages, and shaped like animals.  What could be better?  Right?  The real surprise with these cookies is that these are not your typical guilty-pleasure snacks.  Oh no.  These puppies —or should I say camels -- are low in fat and sodium, vegan, organic and only 120 for 17 delicious cookies!  There are even tigers in the tub.  It just ge...
2 comments
Read more

Flirting 101: How to Flirt Effectively

Get Your Best Flirting Foot Forward with These Tips! As an etiquette teacher, I teach a variety of subjects, such as dating etiquette . So inevitably, when presenting any type of workshop, dating etiquette questions often arise.   Often these questions lean toward the flirting aspect of dating.   Note : Please use these tips once it is safe to flirt, date, and get close to that one who’s making your heart flutter. Surprisingly, these are valid questions and a perfect topic for those dabbling in the dating world.   After all, flirting is fun, playful and if done correctly, can add even more excitement in a chance encounter.   "Interested?" she asks as she winks and flips her hair.    Flirting begins in the head. Many times, we flirt with those we want to know better, so accept that this may not be a love connection.   No worries though.   You won't know until you make that connection.   Flirting helps make that initial first step, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Know What Gifts to Give When Dating

Gift Giving in the Dating World Ah, new love...an amazing person is now in your life.   You are enjoying every minute and are anxiously anticipating your next date .   As excited as you are, it seems that new relationships are just one test after another.   Will he like my dad?   Will my children like her?   What makes her angry?   Thankfully, those tests tend to sort themselves out quickly in the relationship.   However, one test is a bit more ambiguous.    At what point in the relationship do we exchange gifts?   Gender-Sensitive? Stereotypically, women tend to be more gift-oriented than men are.   Nevertheless, knowing this doesn't make it any easier to choose the perfect gift for the woman he/she is just beginning to know.   This is true for her as well.   Giving an expensive gift too early in the relationship could appear as if she is trying to "push" him into a more permanent relationship.   So, what do...
Post a Comment
Read more