Happy Birthday, Chicago Defender!

One hundred years ago this past Thursday, Robert Sengstacke Abbott put out the first edition of The Chicago Defender, which soon became iconic in the black community. Starting out as a weekly, the Defender may, in effect, have been the first national newspaper in the United States. It was published in Chicago, where Pullman porters would pick it up and carry it throughout the country, particularly into the South. Much of this was done in secret, because Southern authorities, not to mention the Klan, would often confiscate copies they found. At its peak the paper sold 230,000 copies per issue, but it was assumed that each copy was read by four or five people, so its actual circulation may have been closer to 1,000,000. The paper took early and strong stands against lynching and for civil rights, and it was a significant force in the migration of blacks out of the South.

The Chicago Defender became a daily paper in 1956. Recent financial difficulties and changes in ownership have left the paper off balance, but it continues to persevere into the 21st century. Its Web page is here. And, going back to a post from a couple of days ago, the May 6 cover features the photo of Emmett Till in his casket that helped spark the Civil Rights Movement (the picture is very disturbing, so make sure you're ready before you click).