Chicago Defender Research Paper

The Chicago Defender was created by Robert C. Abbot in 1905 and the newspaper itself played a very pivotal role to the Black Experience in the United States.

During much of the mid -1900s the African American experience was not great. Although African Americans were free down South, they treated African Americans as if they were barely a person. Life out in the South for blacks had rules such as white only bathrooms, blacks not being allowed in restaurants, blacks not being allowed certain job positions and segregated schools. Every day, African Americans had to fight for there life and equality. It was not uncommon for African Americans to be found lynched or beaten for just walking down the street. Furthermore, it was common to find African Americans with low income jobs that made it hard for them to make ends meet for their family.

Often times blacks were belittled in the newspapers and whites were praised. But “The Chicago Defender” played an important role because Abbot put the spotlight on African Americans (Nelson, 1998). Often times when it came to the Black press the newspapers rarely got out of the North. When the Chicago Defender first started Abbot sold copies door to door, “sold both subscriptions and advertising for the paper himself by going door-to-door throughout Chicago, Illinois” (blackpast.org). However, Abbot broke the chains and that pattern by making sure the newspaper not only reached Blacks in Chicago, but he also wanted those down South to read the newspaper. Therefore, he did as much as he could to make sure that the newspaper was able to reach those down south. He was able to get trains to go down South and deliver the newspapers to those in the