With just 25 cents to his name, he hit the ground running with his dream.

The young visionary wanted more for our people, and with determined to let the truth speak

for itself, he just had to get the word out.

This is Two Minute Black History, what you didn't learn in school.

Robert Abbott had 25 cents to his name as he worked out at his landlord's apartment

to realize his dream.

He wanted to tell black stories, true ones, not created by white writers.

Once considered the world's greatest weekly, the Chicago Defender advocated for racial and

economic rights.

Never needing white approval, Abbott and the Defender team did it in the blackest way possible.

At the time, not many other publications were willing to write the truth about what was

targeting black people, but Abbott's team didn't have time to play around.

They never minced words.

The newspaper faced racial issues head on, and in a style that many considered militant,

using heavy headlines and graphic images and highlighting things using red ink.

Their powerful stories covered the horrors of lynchings, assaults, and other attacks

on black people.

It paid off.

By 1920, the Defender was reaching hundreds of thousands of us.

Whites couldn't stand it and banned the newspaper from some newsstands across the South.

Despite it all, the Defender continued to push its advocacy for black people throughout

the country and created a legacy as one of the most essential papers in history.

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