THE MOUTHPIECE OF 14 MILLION PEOPLE

February 26, 2008 -- Today's page looks at the Chicago Defender, which became the world's largest black newspaper. The Chicago Defender was founded by Robert S. Abbott on May 5, 1905,and lauded itself as the "world's greatest weekly." The Defender was the nation's most influential black weekly newspaper at the start of World War I. Abbott started the paper with 25 cents and 300 copies, working out of a small kitchen in his landlord's Chicago apartment.The first editions were handbills containing local news items gathered mostly from other papers. The Defender did not use the words "black" or "Negro." African-Americans were referred to as "the Race." It was militant in its decry of racial injustice and famous for blazing headlines and graphic images that depicted the injustices blacks suffered in the United States, including lynchings. The paper soon attracted national attention. The Defender provided firsthand coverage of the infamous Red Summer Race Riots of 1919, which broke out in cities across the country.The paper was in full support of the Great Migration (1915-1925), urging Southern blacks to leave the racially oppressive South and head North for better opportunities. The paper featured job listings and train schedules, and referred to the famed migration as the "Great Northern Drive." More than 110,000 blacks came to Chicago alone, nearly tripling the city's African-American population.It was no surprise that distributors in the South refused to circulate the paper. The Defender was smuggled in by Pullman porters and entertainers, passed from personto person and read aloud in barber shops and churches. The Chicago Defender was the first black newspaper to have a circulation of more than 100,000, a health column and a full page of comics. SOURCE OF THIS STORY