In recognition of Black History Month, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. continues to recognize a few of its member's “Achievements in Every Field of Human Endeavor”
In recognition of Black History Month, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. continues to recognize a few of its member's “Achievements in Every Field of Human Endeavor”
Robert Sengstacke Abbott was born November 24, 1868 in Georgia, the son of slaves, freed by the Civil War. Abbott worked since he was 8-years old, working in a grocery store and paying his mother 10 cents a week for room and board. Abbott studied the printing business at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) from 1892-1896, working as an apprentice at the Savannah Echo newspaper. Abbott subsequently matriculated to and graduated from Chicago's Kent College of Law in 1897. The only black in the class, he was unable to practice this profession due to racial discrimination.
He founded the black newspaper, the Chicago Defender on May 5, 1905, and served as the editor. The Defender is considered by many to be the most influential black newspaper ever printed. Abbott started selling a four-page sheet of the Defender door-to-door and ran the newspaper virtually by himself, getting contributions from reporters and railroad workers sending him leftover printed material. However, he is better known as a racial crusader than writer. The paper he founded with an initial investment of 25 cents later became the most prominent Black newspaper in the history of Illinois and the United States, starting with 300 copies at 25 cents. It became the first newspaper to surpass 100,000 in circulation, to the paper reaching a circulation of 230,000 nationally by 1920. At its peak, the Defender had half a million readers. Several well-renowned Black writers, including Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes wrote for the Defender.
Abbott used the Defender to forcefully speak against lynching, racism and segregation and persuaded thousands of blacks to move to Chicago, Illinois from the segregated south where racism was less blatant and employment was more plentiful. These efforts contributed greatly in “the Great Migration” which occurred from 1915 to 1925. It later transformed the city, more than tripling the black population in Chicago.
Dubbed "The World's Greatest Weekly," his newspaper soon became the most widely circulated black newspaper in the country and made him one of the first self-made millionaires of African-American descent. As Abbott grew in wealth, the Chicago Defender included stories on racial conflict and other topics such as blacks outside the United States.
The oldest and largest African-American parade in the U.S. is the Bud Billiken Parade; the brainchild of Abbott. It began in 1929 and is held the 2nd Saturday every August in Chicago. It is dedicated to the betterment of children and is a prelude to the new school year.
He died of Bright's disease in 1940 and left the paper in control of his heir and nephew, John Henry Sengstacke, who served as publisher until his death in May 1997. The Chicago Defender is still widely circulated around the country.
His Chicago home, a large Queen Anne-style brick duplex at 4742 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., has been designated a national historic landmark, he has the following named in his honor - a Chicago Public School at 3630 S. Wells; a Chicago Park at 95th & Michigan; and a honorary street at 31st-35th & Indiana.
Abbott was initiated into the Chicago (IL) Alumni Chapter April 1919, was second to receive the Laurel Wreath Award (highest award bestowed upon members of Kappa Alpha Psi). Founder Elder Watson Diggs was first to receive this coveted award. Both Diggs and Abbott obtained this honor at the 14th Grand Chapter Meeting, December 1924 in St. Louis, MO. Abbott was awarded the Laurel Wreath for his outstanding achievements in the field of Journalism.
Kevin Scott
Grand Historian
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