Robert Sengstacke Abbott was born to former slaves, Thomas and Flora Abbott, on November 28, 1870, on St. Simons, a small island off the Georgia Coast. After his father died, his mother married John Sengstacke, the owner of a local newspaper. Robert S. Abbott studied printing at The Hampton Institute and worked at his stepfather’s newspaper for a few years before moving to Chicago to study law. He received his law degree from Kent Law School, now part of The Illinois Institute of Technology, but racial prejudice against African-Americans prevented him from opening an office.

Undeterred, Robert S. Abbott established his own newspaper, The Chicago Defender, which grew from an initial run of a few hundred copies to a national newspaper read by millions of people.

In 1929 Robert S. Abbott held the first Bud Billiken Parade, named for a fictional character created by The Chicago Defender’s staff. Held on the second Saturday in August, The Bud Billiken Parade attracts more than one million spectators who line the parade route on Chicago’s south side.

Robert S. Abbott died on February 29, 1940 at age 69. He is buried in Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.