After 114 Years In Print, Chicago Defender Goes Digital-Only

By Meha Ahmad, Nereida Moreno
Chicago Defender publisher John H. Sengstacke celebrates a good run at the printing presses in 1960. Photo courtesy of the Chicago Defender/Obsidian Collection.
Chicago Defender publisher John H. Sengstacke celebrates a good run at the printing presses in 1960. Photo courtesy of the Chicago Defender/Obsidian Collection.
Chicago Defender publisher John H. Sengstacke celebrates a good run at the printing presses in 1960. Photo courtesy of the Chicago Defender/Obsidian Collection.
Chicago Defender publisher John H. Sengstacke celebrates a good run at the printing presses in 1960. Photo courtesy of the Chicago Defender/Obsidian Collection.

After 114 Years In Print, Chicago Defender Goes Digital-Only

By Meha Ahmad, Nereida Moreno
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

The Chicago Defender, a legendary black newspaper with a 114-year history of covering issues often ignored by the mainstream media, will cease print operations Wednesday and double-down on its digital platform.

The news outlet was founded by Robert S. Abbott in 1905 and quickly became one of the most influential news outlets in the country. It was the first black newspaper to have a circulation over 100,000, and the first to have a health column and a full page of comic strips, according to PBS.

Morning Shift talks to Jane Rhodes of the University of Illinois at Chicago for more on the Defender’s legacy and its impact on the black community.

GUEST: Jane Rhodes, professor and head of African American studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago

LEARN MORE: The Chicago Defender - PBS

The Chicago Defender, Legendary Black Newspaper, Prints Last Copy (New York Times 7/9/18)