Abbott, Robert S. (Robert Sengstacke), 1868-1940

found: DANB(Abbott, Robert Sengstacke, 1870-1940, newspaper editor and publisher)

found: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition, accessed November 26, 2014, via Oxford African American Studies Center database:(Abbott, Robert Sengstacke; Robert S. Abbott; African American founder, editor, and publisher of the Chicago Defender, the largest black-owned daily newspaper in the United States; born 28 November 1868 in St. Simons Island, Georgia, United States, Fort Frederica; attended Hampton University in Virginia (1892-1896), where he learned the printing trade; graduated from Kent College of Law (1898); practiced law for a few years, then changed careers to become a journalist; founded the Chicago Defender, a weekly newspaper (May 1905) which became the most widely circulated African American newspaper of its time and a leading voice in the fight against racism; through the Defender, Abbott also played a major role in the Great Migration of many African Americans from the South to Chicago during the early twentieth century; also served as a member of the Chicago Commission on Race Relations; died 29 February 1940 in Chicago, Illinois, United States)