By: Laney Deffendoll

February is known for many things. Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, the Super Bowl… the list goes on and on. But the most important observance for February in the United States (and Canada) is Black History Month! As Communication students, we’re inspired by advocates, organizers, orators who have changed the world, and there are many compelling examples from Black history: Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells and Martin Luther King Jr. to name a few.  But there are also many lesser-known stories that often fly under the radar. Here are three influential advocates in Black History that you might not know:

Robert Sengstacke Abbott (1870-1940)

• Founder of The Chicago Defender
  • Became the most widely spread newspaper in the country
  • Easily circulated on trains due to the 1925 union of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
  • Advocated for African Americans to leave the South and come to Chicago
    • Published stories in his paper about earlier migrants seeking refuge in the North to give hope to those who were being oppressed in the South.
    • Set a date (May 15, 1917) for “The Great Northern Divide” to encourage masses to leave the South.
    • Wrote very negatively about life in the South in comparison to that in the North
    • Included pictures of Chicago and classifieds for housing there
• Set goals and expectations for African American rights; The Defender’s “Bible”
  • Full enfranchisement of all American citizens, American prejudice must be destroyed, Representation in the President’s Cabinet, and more

Ella Baker (1903-1986)

• Called “mother of the civil rights movement”
  • Known as mentor, rather than a frontline leader
  • Taught that the movement could not solely rely on its leaders; empowered them to become activists within their own communities
• Co-founded the In Friendship organization to raise money to fight Jim Crow laws in the South

• Helped co-found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
  • Part of Greensboro sit-ins
• Helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
  • To help harness and foster the young activism
  • SNCC members joined with activists from the Congress of Racial Equality to organize the Freedom Rides (1961).
  • Helped create Freedom Summer in an effort to focus national attention on the racism in Mississippi and to register black voters

Daisy Bates (1914-1999)

• Co-publisher of the Arkansas State Press
  • Modeled off of newspapers like The Chicago Defender, this weekly newspaper highlighted achievements of black Arkansans and stories about civil rights
• Huge supporter of the NAACP’s role in integration of public schools
  • Publicized violations of the Supreme Court’s desegregation rulings
  • President of the NAACP in Arkansas
  • Mainly focused on education after the Brown v. Board of Education decision
    • Claimed she and the organization were focused on changing “the whole darned system”
    • Advocate, organizer and mentor for the Little Rock Nine
    • Helped plan the Little Rock Central High School integration
• Worked for the Democratic National Committee and with President Lyndon B. Johnson on anti-poverty programs

SOURCES:

Center, E. B. (n.d.). Who was Ella Baker? Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://ellabakercenter.org/who-was-ella-baker/

Davis, Pablo. “Robert Sengstacke Abbott.” New Georgia Encyclopedia, last modified Nov 1, 2019. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/robert-sengstacke-abbott-1868-1940/

Griggs, B. (n.d.). Black people in history: Little-known figures to know. CNN. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/02/us/little-known-black-history-figures/

Norwood, A. (n.d.). Daisy Bates. National Women’s History Museum. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/daisy-bates