Podcast appearances and mentions of Robert S Abbott

All too often history repeats itself -- with tragic results. During the last 100-years, the killing of one person becomes symbolic and spawns a larger tragedy. Irregularly bubbling to the surface these crises rise from elemental rents and systemic failures in the fabric of society. We call to mind the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th, 2020 and beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles on March 3rd, 1991 and so on cascading back to the stoning and subsequent drowning of Eugene Williams on July 27th, 1919 off Chicago's 29th Street Beach. The violence inflicted on these three men (and countless others) focused outrage to rally outcries, spark civil unrest and riots lasting multiple days. The conditions fanning the flames did not occur in a vacuum nor isolation, but built over time, due to compounding slights, inequality, and oppression. Although intermittent riots sprang up in different eras and regions of the country, the basic facts were the same; Black men were killed or beaten by white policemen or in Eugene Williams' case, stones thrown and the palpable anger of whites against Blacks caused the drowning of the 17 year-old. In the aftermath of these deaths and days of violence people asked, “Why did this happen?” In Windy City Historians podcast Episode 29 - “The Chicago Race Riots of 1919” we explore the conditions of that hot, “Red Summer”, where Chicago, (and other cities) wrestled with the chaos of civil unrest. Through interviews with Claire Hartfield, the author of “A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919”, as well as commentary from Professor Charles Branham, Ph.D. we walk through the riot's lasting legacy on Chicago, it's Black community, and the many questions raised by an oppressive summer a century ago. Questions that are still being raised today, more than a century later. Robert S. Abbott, Publisher of the Chicago Defender Crowd in front of a storefront during the race riots in 1919. Examples of 1919 Commemoration Project glass blocks Crowd of men and National Guard Soldiers at tail end of 1919 Riots Black Veteran encounters National Guard Soldier during Riots. Black Veterans defended their neighborhoods from whites, while Guardsmen's job was to quell violence. Links to Research and Historic Sources: "Chicago Race Riots of 1919" by Julius L. Jones, Chicago History Museum Blog "Chicago Race Riots", Chicago Encyclopedia "City on Fire: Chicago Race Riot 1919", by Natalie Moore, WBEZChicago, Nov. 23, 2019 "Carl Sandburg and the Chicago Race Riots of 1919", Carl Sandburg Home, National Park Service, website Carl Sandburg poem “I am the People, the Mob” by Poetry in Voice 2016 winner Marie Foolchand at the Griffin Poetry Prize awards - audio used in this episode (at 39:20) In Memoriam, August Meier, by David Levering Lewis, Perspectives on History, Sept. 1, 2003 The book, “A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919” by Claire Hartfield The book, ”City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago” by Gary Krist. "Black Soldiers in American Wars: Chicago's 'Fighting 8th' and the 370th Regiment" from Black History Heros Blog "Flashback: Chicago's first black alderman sat as the lone African-American voice on the city's council - and then, Congress", by Christen A. Johnson, Chicago Tribune, Feb. 14, 2023 The book, Big Bill of Chicago by Lloyd Wendt and Herman Kogan, Forward by Rick Kogan The Negro in Chicago; A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot, by the Chicago Commission on Race Relations The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CCR19) by Peter Cole, Franklin N. Cosey-Gay, Myles X Francis Robert S. Abbott, Chicago Literary Hall of Fame website "1919 Race Riots Memorial Project will honor victims where the died -- in streets all over city", by Michael Loria, Chicago Sun Times, Feb. 20, 2023 "1914--Chicago Surface Lines", Chicagology

On April 30, 1926, Bessie Coleman, the first black person in the world to obtain a pilot's license, died during a test flight before a Negro Welfare League sponsored air show in Jacksonville, Florida. An amazing person, Bessie Coleman had been born in Atlanta, Texas on January 26, 1892. It was in Chicago during the First World War that she heard stories about the aviators exploits overseas and she began to dream of flying herself. A nice dream, and a dream it would have stayed had she not persevered. As a couple of sources explain, “her brothers served in the military during World War I and came home with stories from their time in France. Her brother John teased her because French women were allowed to learn how to fly airplanes and Bessie could not. This made Bessie want to become a pilot.” American flight schools would not let her enter to learn. But she did not give up.  With aid from Robert S. Abbott, editor of the Chicago Weekly Defender, she contacted schools abroad, learned French in night classes, and in 1920 she traveled overseas to an aviation school in Le Crotoy, France. She studied for ten months and on June 15, 1921, the same year Amelia Earhart began to take lessons she was issued an international pilot's license by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. She was the first Black person in the world to become a licensed pilot. Bessie Coleman returned to America thrilled crowds with demonstrations of her sensational flying abilities. Her daredevil feats in air shows led to her getting the nickname "Brave Bessie." Bessie encouraged other young African Americans to fly and dreamed of opening a black aviation school. She refused to participate in any air show that didn't allow black people to be in the audience. Sadly she did not live long enough to see her dreams come true. She died in 1926, in an accident while taking a test flight at a Florida air show. But Brave Bessie Coleman left a powerful inspirational legacy for others and in 1929, a flying school for African Americans was founded in Coleman's honor in Los Angeles.  -- The Texas History Lessons Theme song, Walking Through History, was written and recorded by Derrick McClendon. Listen to his new album, Interstate Daydreamer! Available everywhere you find good music. Thank you Derrick! Twitter: @dmclendonmusic If you are enjoying Texas History Lessons, consider buying me a cup of coffee by clicking here! Help make Texas History Lessons by supporting it on Patreon. And a special thanks to everyone that already does. Website: texashistorylessons.com email: texashistorylessons@gmail.com Twitter: @TexasHistoryL Texas History Lessons Spotlight Artists Jerrod Flusche Rosmand – Mando Salas Zach Welch Seth Jones Derrick McClendon Kade Anson Randy Hoyet on Spotify Robert Herrerra Jacob Charles Chris Cunningham Tristyn Sanchez The Oliver White Group Podcast Recommendations: Wild West Extravaganza Podcast The History Cafe Podcast Hymns of the Highway Podcast Off Mic, Off the Record Podcast Texas River Tonk Podcast TXRiverTonk Podcast LINKS: If you have any photography, videography or aerial photography and video, go visit PANTHER CITY AIR to see how they can fulfill your needs.   Tio Bruce's The Greatest Playlist In Texas and Hence the World.  Texas History Lessons Spotlight Artist Spotify Playlist 301 Productions Spotify Playlist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In American history, we were taught that pioneers and homesteaders moved from east to west settling the continent in the greater pursuit of “Manifest Destiny” -- killing and obfuscating the First Nations peoples' way of life.  However, another American pattern often overlooked is the migration from south to the north.  Starting less than a century after a Black man of Haitian decent named Jean Baptiste Point DeSable became Chicago's first non-indigenous settler; African Americans in large numbers began leaving southern States and moving to the north, which historians now call “The Great Migration”.  Their motives were that of people everywhere seeking jobs, opportunity, and a better life. Northern States offered jobs and a relief from the weight of Jim Crow. For many Chicago had became a beacon of hope as Black-owned newspapers and in particular the “Chicago Defender”, distributed by Pullman Porters, gave hope to generations of former slaves, farmers, and sharecroppers.  Beginning as early as the 1880s and then from approximately 1910 to the 1970, rural southern Blacks by the thousands made their way north throughout these decades. And, just as the journey changed them, their music, culture, and customs changed Chicago.  Northern cities, and Chicago in particular, were not always welcoming, as decent  housing was scarce as restrictive covenants and red-lining forced African Americans to live in "The Black Belt”. This tightly constrained strip of blocks on the city's south side, initially between 22nd and 31st Streets, later extending south to 39th and eventually to 95th Street and roughly sandwiched between the railroad tracks of the Rock Island on the west and Illinois Central to the east.  But even with forced segregation, many black businesses thrived, and a sense of place was established creating Bronzeville and its famous “Stroll”. Join the Windy City Historians as we delve into the Great Migration with Dr. Charles Brahnam, author and professor, and the perfect guide to take us on a journey into the Great Migration. A trip populated by famous brave and fearless black Chicagoans such as Ida B. Wells, Oscar DePriest, and Robert S. Abbott and into a better understand of this massive cultural shift for the nation and Chicago in particular. King Oliver Jazz Band "The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration", by Isabel Wilkerson for Smithsonian Magazine, Sept. 2016Great Migration from Encyclopedia of Chicago websiteDr. Charles Russell Branham interview on C-SpanSteve Green story from the Arkansas Encyclopedia websiteIllinois Gov. Len Small from Wikipedia (Please note in our interview we say he was governor, but at the time of the Steve Green story he was involved in Illinois politics but not yet governor.)Ida B Wells: WTTW Chicago StoriesIda B. Wells biography from the Black Past websiteIda B. Wells-Burnett biography from the Women's History websiteFerdinand Lee Barnett's biography from the Black Past websiteRobert S Abbott biography on WikipediaOscar Stanton De Priest biography on WikipediaEdward Herbert Wright biography on WikipediaJesse Binga biography on WikipediaCarter G. Woodson biography on WikipediaChicago Race Riot of 1919 on WikipediaJim Crow laws from Wikipedia"History of Lynching in America" from the NAACP websiteA recommended book, THE DEFENDER: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America From the Age of the Pullman Porters to the Age of Obama By Ethan MichaeliBoll weevil devastation from WikipediaPullman Porters from WikipediaThe Jones Boys, "From Riots to Renaissance: Policy Kings" from WTTW's websiteThe Incredible History and Cultural Legacy of the Bronzeville Neighborhood from Chicago Detours websiteExplore Bronzeville from the Blueprint for Bronzeville websiteBooker T. Washington biography from WikipediaThe South Side's Last Remaining Jazz Landmarks article from Chicago Magazine Thomas A. Dorsey from the Gospel Music Hall of Fame websiteMahalia JacksonMahalia Jackson performs...

It's time for some positive news and I hope you're ready because today's episode is all about The Chicago Defender and its founder, Robert S. Abbott. (07:42) To keep learning, check out: Noire Histoir podcast Demond Does podcast BlackPast.org

The Chicago Defender is an African-American owned and operated newspaper founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott. It brought publicity to race riots in 1919 and reported on the lynching of black citizens. The paper would also rewrite stories pertaining to its readers with an African-American point of view. Abbott also hired the first female newspaper editor to work at the Defender. When Abbott died, in 1942, his nephew, John Sengstacke, succeeded him as the proprietor of the paper. Its later articles on the racial dynamic of the White House news reporting got the first ever black reporter allowed in the press briefings. Sengstacke also made deals with President Truman using the paper's clout in order to desegregate the military. After 114 years, the Defender has published its last paper and will be continuing as an online website for readers. Today, we have a conversation with Ethan Michaeli about the history of the Defender's coverage and its influence on the politics and culture of that era.   Guest: Ethan Michaeli is an award-winning Chicago based author, publisher, and journalist. He was a copy editor at the Chicago Defender for five years and has written a book detailing its history, achievements, and struggle, entitled The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America, as well as Twelve Tribes: Promise and Peril in the New Jerusalem.   The post The Racial Dynamic and Reporting of the Chicago Defender appeared first on KPFA.

In his new book The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Ethan Michaeli charts the riveting history of the Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s longest running and most significant black periodicals. Founded in 1905 by publisher Robert S. Abbott, the Defender came to play a central role in regional and national black politics; drawing African Americans north to Chicago as part of the Great Migration out of the South, condemning Jim Crow and bolstering the electoral power of black America, and helping to secure the election of presidents such as Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. Relying on exhaustive research, including dozens of interviews and extensive archival material, Ethan has constructed the most in-depth and illuminating history of the Defender ever published – highlighting not only the impact of publisher Abbott and iconic columnists such as Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes, but also the hundreds of other journalists and editors who contributed to the legendary newspaper’s development. Alex Kotlowitz has described The Defender as “a majestic, sweeping history, both of a newspaper and of a people,” and Carol Anderson has applauded the text as a landmark study which will “become an essential resource in African American cultural and political studies.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Ethan Michaeli charts the riveting history of the Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s longest running and most significant black periodicals. Founded in 1905 by publisher Robert S. Abbott, the Defender came to play a central role in regional and national black politics; drawing African Americans north to Chicago as part of the Great Migration out of the South, condemning Jim Crow and bolstering the electoral power of black America, and helping to secure the election of presidents such as Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. Relying on exhaustive research, including dozens of interviews and extensive archival material, Ethan has constructed the most in-depth and illuminating history of the Defender ever published – highlighting not only the impact of publisher Abbott and iconic columnists such as Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes, but also the hundreds of other journalists and editors who contributed to the legendary newspaper’s development. Alex Kotlowitz has described The Defender as “a majestic, sweeping history, both of a newspaper and of a people,” and Carol Anderson has applauded the text as a landmark study which will “become an essential resource in African American cultural and political studies.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Ethan Michaeli charts the riveting history of the Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s longest running and most significant black periodicals. Founded in 1905 by publisher Robert S. Abbott, the Defender came to play a central role in regional and national black politics; drawing African Americans north to Chicago as part of the Great Migration out of the South, condemning Jim Crow and bolstering the electoral power of black America, and helping to secure the election of presidents such as Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. Relying on exhaustive research, including dozens of interviews and extensive archival material, Ethan has constructed the most in-depth and illuminating history of the Defender ever published – highlighting not only the impact of publisher Abbott and iconic columnists such as Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes, but also the hundreds of other journalists and editors who contributed to the legendary newspaper’s development. Alex Kotlowitz has described The Defender as “a majestic, sweeping history, both of a newspaper and of a people,” and Carol Anderson has applauded the text as a landmark study which will “become an essential resource in African American cultural and political studies.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Ethan Michaeli charts the riveting history of the Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s longest running and most significant black periodicals. Founded in 1905 by publisher Robert S. Abbott, the Defender came to... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Ethan Michaeli charts the riveting history of the Chicago Defender, one of the nation’s longest running and most significant black periodicals. Founded in 1905 by publisher Robert S. Abbott, the Defender came to play a central role in regional and national black politics; drawing African Americans north to Chicago as part of the Great Migration out of the South, condemning Jim Crow and bolstering the electoral power of black America, and helping to secure the election of presidents such as Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. Relying on exhaustive research, including dozens of interviews and extensive archival material, Ethan has constructed the most in-depth and illuminating history of the Defender ever published – highlighting not only the impact of publisher Abbott and iconic columnists such as Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes, but also the hundreds of other journalists and editors who contributed to the legendary newspaper’s development. Alex Kotlowitz has described The Defender as “a majestic, sweeping history, both of a newspaper and of a people,” and Carol Anderson has applauded the text as a landmark study which will “become an essential resource in African American cultural and political studies.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new book The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), Ethan Michaeli charts the riveting history of the Chicago Defender, one of the nation's longest running and most significant black periodicals. Founded in 1905 by publisher Robert S. Abbott, the Defender came to play a central role in regional and national black politics; drawing African Americans north to Chicago as part of the Great Migration out of the South, condemning Jim Crow and bolstering the electoral power of black America, and helping to secure the election of presidents such as Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. Relying on exhaustive research, including dozens of interviews and extensive archival material, Ethan has constructed the most in-depth and illuminating history of the Defender ever published – highlighting not only the impact of publisher Abbott and iconic columnists such as Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes, but also the hundreds of other journalists and editors who contributed to the legendary newspaper's development. Alex Kotlowitz has described The Defender as “a majestic, sweeping history, both of a newspaper and of a people,” and Carol Anderson has applauded the text as a landmark study which will “become an essential resource in African American cultural and political studies.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

Robert S. Abbott founded The Defender in 1905, smuggled hundreds of thousands of copies into the most isolated communities in the segregated South, and was dubbed a "Modern Moses," becoming one of... Experience the excitement and energy of Las Vegas each weekend on VEGAS NEVER SLEEPS with Steven Maggi.