Robert Sengstacke Abbott

Robert Sengstacke Abbott the story of the pioneer of the black press involves slaves, Nazis and 25 cents. Born just five years after the end of the Civil War, Robert Sengstacke Abbott founded a weekly newspaper, The Chicago Defender, one of the most important black newspapers in history, in 1905. Without Abbott, there would be no Essence, no Jet (and its Beauty of the Week), no Black Enterprise, no The Source, no The Undefeated. The success of The Chicago Defender made Abbott one of the nation’s most prominent post slavery black millionaires, along with beauty product magnate Madam C.J. Walker and paved the way for prominent black publishers such as Earl G. Graves, John H. Johnson and Edward Lewis.nts.