Chicago 1920
THE DEFENDER In May 1917 The Chicago Defender announced the Great Northern Drive that effectively urged black people to “flee the South.” This exodus had already begun, but soon many more were heading for the city. Between 1915 and 1925, 1.5 million blacks migrated to the North, and the 110,000 who moved to Chicago between 1916 and 1918 tripled the city’s black population. Robert S. Abbott founded The Chicago Defender on May 5, 1905, as “The World’s Greatest Weekly.” The paper was one in the history of the black press. Two-thirds of The Defender readership was located outside of Chicago, and the paper was read extensively throughout the South. Black porters and entertainers distributed it across the Mason/Dixon line, and at its height around 500,000 people read the paper. For record companies like Paramount, The Defender
‘On State Street they used to of fer to give it away But now you can’t get it if you of fer to pay You can’t get the stuf f no more’ “You Can’t Get The Stuff No More“ Tampa Red, 1932
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was an ideal vehicle for advertising their artists. On February 6, 1956, the paper became The Chicago Daily Defender, the largest black-owned daily in the world The city changed tremendously during the first half of the twentieth century. Every day, immigrants from across America–and especially black people from the Southern States–Arrived in Chicago looking for the bright new future that they had read about in The Defender. During that time, Chicago was without a doubt the most musically vibrant city in United States, home to thriving blues and jazz communities. After The World War I, black vaudeville theaters like the Vendome and the Pekin were hugely popular, helping to bring both Ma Rainey and Ida Cox to prominence.