Robert Sengstacke Abbott

Robert Sengstacke Abbott (24 November, 1870 [1] [2] [3] - February 29, 1940) was an African American lawyer and newspaper publisher.

Born in Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia , Abbott's father, Thomas Abbott, passed away the year after his birth.Abbott went on and studied the printing trade at Hampton Institute now (Hampton University) from 1892 to 1896. He received a law degree from Kent College of Law, Chicago in 1898, but because of race prejudice in the United States was unable to practice, despite attempts to establish law offices in Gary, Indiana, Topeka, Kansas, and Chicago, Illinois.

In 1905 he founded "The Chicago Defender" with an initial investment of 25 cents. The "Defender", which was once heralded as "The World's Greatest Weekly", soon became the most widely circulated black newspaper in the country, and made Abbott one of the first self-made millionaires of African-American descent. Abbott also published a short-lived paper called "Abbott's Monthly".

Abbott met `Abdu'l-Bahá, head of the Bahá'í Faith, in 1912 covering a talk of his during his stay in Chicago [http://www.uga.edu/bahai/News/101095.html Robert S. Abbott and the Chicago Defender: A Door to the Masses] by Mark Perry, printed in October 10th, 1995 issue of the Michigan Chronicle.] and was listed as a frequenter of Bahá'í events in Chicago with his wife in 1924.

After inventing the fictional character "Bud Biliken" with David Kellum, Abbott established the Bud Billiken Club and in 1929 Abbott and Kellum founded the Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic. [ [http://www.bahai.us/bud-billiken Celebrated African-American parade of pride boasts Baha'i connections] August 3, 2007]

After searching through several religious communities for an atmosphere free of race prejudice, even among "light skinned" African-Americans, Abbott officially joined the Bahá'í Faith in 1934 because of its freedom from such prejudice at the convention to elect its National Spiritual Assembly. [http://books.google.com/books?&id=0-cwAAAAIAAJ&q=Bahai&pgis=1 The Lonely Warrior: The Life and Times of Robert S. Abbott By Roi Ottley] By Roi Ottley, Published 1955, H. Regnery Co., p. 13] [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=B0lgih2J_0AC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&source=web&ots=4aZVGDWUqL&sig=NSQkLFrVcDuniKvP9VRm11pLm5M&hl=en#PPA44,M1 A Long and Thorny Path: Race Relations in the American Bahá'í Community(Chapter)] by Richard W. Thomas, Ph.D. pp. 37-66, of Circle of Unity: Baha'i Approaches to Current Social Issues edited by Anthony A. Lee, Published 1984 Kalimat Press, ISBN 0933770286, p.44 especially.]

Though some of the Sengstacke family became Nazis, Abbott continued correspondence and economic aid to those that accepted his family history, and also assisted the owners of his birth father--the descendants of Captain Charles Stevens--whom Abbott was able to assist during the Depression; even to paying for the education of children.

Abbott died of Bright's disease in 1940 and was [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=abbott&GSfn=robert&GSmn=s&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=8215138& interred] in the Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island, IL. His will left the newspaper in the control of his nephew, John Henry Sengstacke.

His home, the Robert S. Abbott House, is a National Historic Landmark.

References

*Boris, Joseph J., ed. "Who's Who in Colored America (1928-1929)", Who's Who in Colored America Corp., New York, 1929, p. 1
*Taitt, John, "The Souvenir of Negro Progress, Chicago, 1779-1925", The De Saible Association, Inc., [Chicago, 1925?] , p. 27
*Watkins, Sylvestre C., "The Pocket Book of Negro Facts", Bookmark Press, Chicago, 1946, p. 1

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/abbott.html PBS: Robert Sengstacke Abbott]
* [http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/defender.html PBS: The Chicago Defender]