CHICAGO
Robert Sengstacke Abbott was born in Frederica, Georgia, on Nov. 24, 1870 to Thomas and Flora Abbott. He moved with his family to Savannah, Georgia, in 1868 following his father’s death. On July 26, 1874, Robert’s mother married John Sengstacke, and his name became Robert Sengstacke Abbott.
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. While there, he befriended Hollis Burke Frissel, a white teacher who helped improvehis social skills.
“I remember telling Robert, ‘You should prepare yourself for the struggle ahead that in whatever field you should decide to dedicate your services, you should be able to point the light not only to your own people but to white people as well,'” Frissel recalled.
Abbott graduated from Chicago’s Kent College of Law in 1897. The only African American in the class, he was unable to practice this profession due to racial discrimination.Abbott founded the newspaper The Chicago Defender on May 5, 1905. The first Defender headquarters was on 3159 State Street for 15 years, owned by Abbott’s landlord Henrietta Lee; both Lee and her daughter would help Abbott with the newspaper. Abbott ran The Chicago Defender virtually by himself, getting contributions from reporters and railroad workers sending him leftover printed material.
By 1920, the Defender was reaching 230,000 people in and out of Chicago. In 1921, he would begin printing his paper at 3435 Indiana Avenue. As Abbott grew in wealth, The Chicago Defender included stories on racial conflict and other topics such as blacks outside the United States. Eventually, the Chicago Defender became the country’s most widely circulated black newspaper, making Abbott a self-made millionaire in the process. Some of his awards include honorary degrees from Wilberforce University and Morris Brown University.
Abbott married Helen Thornton Morrison on Sept. 10, 1919, divorced her in 1933, and married Edna Denison in 1934. Although neither wife said she loved him, Abbott had 100 close relatives, training his nephew, John Herman Henry Sengstacke to head the Defender.
Robert Sengstacke Abbott’s funeral took place at Metropolitan Community Church, and his remains were interred in the Lincoln Cemetery in Chicago. The Chicago Defender, in accordance to his will, was left in the control of his nephew John Henry Sengstacke. His home, the Robert S. Abbott House, has been designated a national historic landmark.
Robert Abbott, 70, died from Bright’s disease on Feb. 29, 1940.