The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America

Michaeli, a former copy editor and investigative reporter for the Defender, delivers an encyclopedic narrative of African-American history via the publishing legacy of one of the country’s largest and most influential African-American–owned newspapers. Georgia native Robert Abbott, who founded the paper in 1905, had decamped to Chicago for law school but failed to find work as an attorney because of his darker skin and Southern accent. In less than two decades, Abbott secured new printing presses and offices, offering a generation of African-Americans their first jobs in journalism. At the outset, the paper relied heavily on Pullman porters for various duties, and women played a critical role in the ranks of reporters and editors. The paper was a Chicago political force, a persistent critic of lynching, and an early chronicler of the first Great Migration, during WWI. Abbott became the “Moses of Black America,” urging blacks to flee Southern oppression. The complexity of the Defender’s place in the political ecosystem comes alive as Michaeli documents events such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1960s activism in Chicago and Barack Obama’s political rise. Though the closing chapters are uneven, Michaeli has produced an accessible and valuable history. B&w photos. Agent: Rob McQuilkin, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. (Jan.)