Robert abbott accomplishments

Robert abbott for kids

No greater glory, no greater honor, is the lot of man departing than a feeling possessed deep in his heart that the world is a better place for his having lived. From errand boy to lawyer to publisher, as founder of one of the most read Black newspapers in the United States, Robert Sengstacke Abbott gave voice to a Black point of view that had been rendered mute in the early twentieth century.

Born in Georgia to a couple whose parents had been slaves, Abbott was still a baby when his father, Thomas Abbott, died of leukemia. Abbott graduated from Hampton Institute in Virginia. With the assistance of J. Hockley Smiley, The Chicago Defender became the literary domain for racial advancement. The Defender actively promoted the northward migration of Black Southerners, particularly to Chicago.

Distribution of the paper was facilitated by Black railroad porters who both read and shared The Defender. The Defender wrote of injustices but also of a spirit that represented unapologetic Black pride, dignity and assertiveness.

Robert abbott death

The newspaper also fostered literary careers. Willard Motley and Langston Hughes were just a few of the other big names for whom the Defender was a literary home. Married twice, Abbott had no children. The Chicago Defender was left in the capable hands of his nephew John H. Sengstacke III. Abbott lived at S.