Robert Abbott had 25 cents to his name as he worked out of his landlord's apartment to realize his dream. He wanted to tell Black stories and the truth about our situation – and not much could stop him.
Once considered "The World's Greatest Weekly," The Chicago Defender advocated for racial and economic equality on our people's behalf. And never needing white approval, Abbott and the Defender team did it in the Blackest way possible.
At the time, not many other publications were willing to write the truth about what was targeting Black people. But Abbott's team didn't have time to play around.
They never minced words! The newspaper faced racial issues head-on and in a style that many considered militant, using heavy headlines and graphic images, and highlighting things using red ink. Their powerful stories covered the horrors of lynchings, assaults, and other attacks on Black people.
And it paid off. By 1920, the Defender was reaching hundreds of thousands of us. Whites couldn't stand it and banned the newspaper from some newsstands across the South!