Robert Sengstacke Abbott

Robert S. Abbott (1870 - February 29, 1940) was an African American lawyer and newspaper publisher.

Related Topics:
1870 - February 29 - 1940 - African American

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Born in Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia of former slave parents, Abbott studied the printing trade at Hampton Institute 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.

Related Topics:
Frederica - St. Simons Island - Georgia - Law degree - Kent College of Law - Chicago - Gary, Indiana - Topeka, Kansas - 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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Robert Sengstacke Abbott died of Bright's disease in 1940 and was intered in the Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago.

Related Topics:
Bright's disease - Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His will left the newspaper in the control of his nephew, John Henry Sengstacke.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~