The Defender - How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America

"An extraordinary history...Deeply researched, elegantly written...a towering achievement that will not be soon forgotten."--Brent Staples, New York Times Book Review
"[This] epic, meticulously detailed account not only reminds its readers that newspapers matter, but so do black lives, past and present."--USA Today
Giving voice to the voiceless, The Chicago Defender condemned Jim Crow, catalyzed the Great Migration, and focused the electoral power of black America. Robert S. Abbott founded The Defender in 1905, smuggled hundreds of thousands of copies into the most isolated communities in the segregated South, becoming one of the first black millionaires in the process. His successor wielded the newspaper's clout to elect mayors and presidents, including Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy, who would have lost in 1960 if not for The Defender's support.
Drawing on dozens of interviews and extensive archival research, Ethan Michaeli constructs a revelatory narrative of race in America and brings to life the reporters who braved lynch mobs and policemen's clubs to do their jobs, from the age of Teddy Roosevelt to the age of Barack Obama.

About the author

ETHAN MICHAELI is an award-winning author, publisher, and journalist based in Chicago. He was a copy editor and investigative reporter at The Defender from 1991 to 1996.

Product details

• Authors: Ethan Michaeli
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.03.2018
• EAN: 9781328470249
• ISBN: 978-1-328-47024-9
• No. of pages: 672
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 203 mm x 43 mm
• Weight: 522 g
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; HISTORY: Social History, HISTORY: 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN, HISTORY: United States / 20th Century, HISTORY: AMERICAN, HISTORY: AFRICAN-AMERICAN, SOCIAL SCIENCE: Black Studies (Global), POLITICAL SCIENCE: POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL SCIENCE: Media Studies, POLITICAL SCIENCE: Civil Rights, PHILOSOPHY: History & Surveys / General