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Robert S. Abbott
- University of Illinois Press
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roBert s. aBBott (november 28, 1868–february 29, 1940) charlene regester Robert S. Abbott was editor and publisher of the Chicago Defender—one of the longest surviving, widely circulated, and politically active black newspapers in the United States. Abbott was a pivotal force at the turn of the twentieth century because of the power and influence wielded by his paper. He emerged during the first Chicago Literary Renaissance, a movement that was initially launched by white literary figures from around 1912 through the 1930s and included those such as Carl Sandburg, Theodore Dreiser, Edgar Lee Masters, Sherwood Anderson, Edna Ferber, Willa Cather, and Upton Sinclair. A second wave of this movement dominated by black literary figures occurred from the 1930s through the 1950s and included those such as Richard Wright, Willard Motley, Lorraine Hansberry, Langston Hughes (more generally associated with the Harlem Renaissance), Gwendolyn Brooks, and others. Abbott evolved during the first phase of the renaissance, paralleling his white contemporaries in that he shared their vision of radicalism while at the same time being drawn to the more rural life and settings from which he had escaped. Interestingly, some of the literary figures associated with the early movement such as Dreiser and Sandburg had begun their writing careers as journalists prior to launching their literary authorships. Yet, for the black literary figures who emerged in the second phase of this movement, Abbott’s newspaper became an important voice in foregrounding issues that plagued the black community, established a sense of race consciousness, and instilled a sense of pride in blacks—themes that would be reverberated in the works of black writers of the Chicago Renaissance . Abbott’s newspaper, the Defender, and his short-lived magazine, Abbott’s Monthly, were greatly influenced by this movement as much as they were vehicles that helped to shape the doctrines articulated in the works of the black literary figures produced by this movement. Abbott established his newspaper to appeal to the masses of blacks who had fled the South and headed northward to seek a better life. His newspaper was designed to elevate these new black immigrants, to give voice to those disen- 16 • charlene regester franchised, and to mobilize the black population facing lives of uncertainty. Promoting social and political change, even while espousing positions that were sometimes unpopular, Abbott had a tremendous impact on the evolution of black progress and development, not only in Chicago but throughout the country. Robert S. Abbott was born to former slaves Thomas Abbott and Flora Butler Abbott, on November 28, 1868. As a slave, Thomas had been a butler to Captain Charles Stevens of Frederica, Georgia, whose family plantation had been established by Stevens’s father in 1784, on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Granted his freedom, Thomas Abbott migrated to Savannah, Georgia, and in 1867 he met and married Flora Butler (born December 4, 1847 to former slaves Harriet and Jacob Butler of Savannah). Returning to Frederica, one year later, Flora and Thomas had Robert (28 November 1868). (Roi Ottley claims that Robert was born November 24, 1870, yet the Parish Register of St. Stephens Episcopal Church where he was baptized reports that he was born November 28, 1868.) Within a year of Robert’s birth, Thomas died suddenly of tuberculosis. It was not until 1928 that Robert learned of his father’s actual burial place in Frederica, where he erected a monument at the gravesite. Following Thomas’s death, Flora returned to Savannah with Robert, but because of the strained interfamily relationship with the Abbotts, she had to seek legal counsel to retain custody. At this point, John Hermann Henry Sengstacke, a German mulatto immigrant, was also in Savannah, reclaiming his inheritance left by his white father and black mother. Sengstacke assisted Flora and paid for a white attorney to defend her in her custody dispute. On July 26, 1874, Sengstacke became Flora’s second husband, and Robert’s stepfather; Robert became Robert Sengstacke Abbott. The new family moved to Yamacraw, a black settlement containing property previously owned by John’s white father. John first worked as a translator for the Savannah Morning News until his racial identity was revealed. Next, John pursued teaching and preaching and became a missionary in Woodville’s Pilgrim Congregational Church in 1876. In Woodville, a suburb of Savannah, Robert spent much of his early years with his new siblings (Alexander, Mary, Rebecca, Johnnah, and Eliza). At first, young Robert worked as an errand boy at a local grocery and...