[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H2948]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CENTENNIAL OF THE CHICAGO DEFENDER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the centennial, 
the 100th anniversary, of the birth of the Chicago Defender, one of 
America's great, historic institutions which make up the fourth estate, 
our free press.
  The Defender, founded in 1905 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott, follows in 
the tradition of Freedom's Journal founded by Samuel Cornish and John 
B. Russwarm, and the North Star founded by Frederick Douglass.
  Abbott began publishing the Defender out of his kitchen, producing 
about 300 copies at a quarter each. By 1929, the Defender was selling 
more than 250,000 copies each week.
  From its first days, the Defender has also been a campaigner for 
freedom, equality and justice under the slogan, ``American race 
prejudice must be destroyed.'' It has covered stories largely ignored 
by white-owned press. The Chicago Defender reported the 1919 Chicago 
riots, the election of Oscar DePriest to Congress, and the opening of 
the first U.S. bank owned and operated by an African American. The 
Chicago Defender covered the aftermath of the death of Emmett Till and 
the career of the honorable Elijah Mohammad.
  In its editorial pages, the Defender exposed white oppression and the 
lynching of African Americans. During World War I, the Defender urged 
equal treatment of black soldiers. During World War II, the Defender 
protested the treatment of African American servicemen protecting the 
Nation and urged the integration of the Armed Forces. The Chicago 
Defender fearlessly spoke out against lynching, racism and segregation, 
and aroused the conscience of the Nation.
  The Defender led a remarkable campaign which brought thousands of 
southerners to the north from 1915 to 1925. Known in the history books 
as the Great Migration, over 1 million African Americans read vivid 
descriptions about options to life in the south in the pages of the 
Defender and migrated to the north in that short period.
  The Defender has been home to many of our Nation's great writers and 
artists, including novelist Willard Motley, poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and 
writer Langston Hughes, culturist Margaret Burroughs, women's page 
editor Marian Campfield and editorial page cartoonist Oliver 
Harrington. Outstanding scholars and reporters such as W.E.B. DuBois, 
Vernon Jarrett and Lu Palmer appeared in the ages of the Defender.
  In 1923, the Chicago Defender introduced the first newspaper section 
written for children, the Bud Billiken page. Since 1929, the Chicago 
Defender along with the Defender Charities has sponsored the world 
famous Bud Billiken Day Parade and Picnic, the largest event of its 
kind, with more than 1 million people attending and viewing.
  The Defender reported the campaign and election of Harold Washington, 
Chicago's first black mayor.
  After the departure of Robert Abbott, the mission of the Defender was 
carried on with undying spirit and integrity by long-time publisher and 
driving force John Sengstacke who died at the helm of age 84 in 1997. 
Today, the chairman of the board, Thomas Picou, president and CEO 
Clarence Nixon, Junior, and Chicago Defender Executive Editor Roland S. 
Martin are leading a campaign to rebuild the circulation and 
infrastructure of this unique and irreplaceable institution.
  The Defender reported the elections of Carol Mosley-Braun and Barack 
Obama, two of only three African Americans elected to the U.S. Senate 
since Reconstruction.
  Mr. Speaker, the centenary of the Chicago Defender is a milestone in 
the history of our Nation and cause for celebration for the entire 
country. The history of the Defender is a proud page of our free press. 
The history reported by the Defender is a chapter of our collective 
history which without this great paper would have been forever lost.
  So, Mr. Speaker, it is indeed my honor and privilege to bring to the 
attention of this House this milestone in the evolution of our 
democracy. I congratulate the leadership of the Chicago Defender and 
wish them success in their next 100 years, which are yet to come.

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