Anthony Overton: A Black Manufacturer, Banker, Lawyer and Publisher

Photo: Anthony Overton (b. March 21, 1865 - d. July 2, 1946)

On March 21, 1865, Anthony Overton was born into slavery in Monroe, Louisiana. It was not until December 18, 1865 that slavery legally ended in the United States. Overton became a pioneering manufacturer, banker, lawyer and businessman. Much of his business operations arose among the African American community in Chicago.

ANTHONY OVERTON

The son of Anthony and Martha (Deberry) Overton, Anthony Overton was educated at Washburn College and would also graduate from the University of Kansas where he earned a Bachelor of Laws. He graduated from the University of Kansas law school. He practiced law for a time and even served as a judge before concentrating on developing his business operations.

In 1898, Overton established the Hygienic Manufacturing Company in Kansas City. In 1911, he moved operations to Chicago where he manufactured baking powder, toilet preparations, and other extract products. He soon launched the High-Brown Products label where he produced a full-line of ladies fine cosmetics and perfumes in Chicago.

 
OVERTON HYGIENIC BUILDING

Photo: The Overton Building (photograph from Commission on

Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks)

Photo: Overton Hygienic Building in Chicago Today

Anthony Overton developed a major business conglomerate in Chicago that began its operations from this Overton Hygienic Building. In 1922, Overton commissioned architect Z. Erol Smith to design and build the Overton Hygienic Building. In addition to hygienic care products, Overton would operate the Chicago Bee newspaper franchise, Victory Life Insurance Company, Douglass National Bank, and Northern Realty Company from this business facility and his second building, The Chicago Bee Building. 

The Overton Hygienic Building was later known in history as the Palace Hotel. The building is now owned by the Mid-South Planning and Development Commission, which announced plans to use the building as an incubator for small businesses within the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District neighborhood. The Overton Hygienic Building is a Chicago Landmark and part of the historic Bronzeville District in the Douglas community area of Chicago, Illinois. It is located at 3619-3627 State Street.

THE CHICAGO BEE BUILDING

Photo: The Chicago Bee Building

Photo: The Bee Building, now known as The Bee Branch Library

In 1926, The Chicago Bee newspaper publishing business was founded as one of Chicago's African American newspapers. Overton affirmed his confidence in the viability of the Black Metropolis of Bronzeville Chicago by commissioning architect Z. Erol Smith again to design a new three-story building to operate his new newspaper publishing business in a separate facility as his research and development, and manufacturing operations.

The Chicago Bee Building features a richly ornamented facade executed entirely in terra cotta. It was one of the most picturesque of the historic buildings in Bronzeville -- at the time the only one designed in the Art Deco style of the late 1920s.

Photo: Librarian Jo Willis poses in front of the Art Deco doors of the Chicago Bee Building

Although construction started at the beginning of the Great Depression, the building was ready for occupancy by 1931. In addition to the Chicago Bee newspaper, the building would house the offices of the Overton Hygienic Company after the Douglass National Bank closed in 1932. The newspaper closed in the early 1940s. The Anthony Overton Elementary School on Chicago's South Side was later named in honor of this great African-American businessman.

John H. Johnson: The Johnson Publishing Company of Chicago

Photo: John Harold Johnson (b. Jan. 19, 1918 – d. Aug. 8, 2005)

The Johnson Publishing Company, started by Johnson H. Johnson, is among the largest Black-owned businesses in the United States.

THE EARLY LIFE OF JOHN H. JOHNSON

John H. Johnson, founder of Johnson Publishing, was born in Arkansas City, Arkansas in 1918. In 1933, he and his mother migrated to Chicago seeking a better education for the young John Johnson. After graduating from DuSable High School, Johnson worked for Henry H. Pace, then president of Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company.

Johnson was eventually given the task to find news items about Blacks and compile them with news of Supreme Life employee activities for an in-house publication. Johnson developed the idea of collecting articles into a monthly magazine to be called Negro Digest.

In 1942, Johnson used his mother's new furniture as collateral for a $500 loan to mail 20,000 letters to Supreme Life insurance policy-holders offering a $2 charter subscription to the Negro Digest. The overwhelming reply marked the beginning of the Black media dynasty. Other publications launched by Johnson was Tan magazine, a true confessions style publication, as well as Ebony Man, Ebony Jr., and African American Stars.

EBONY AND JET MAGAZINES

Ebony and Jet magazines have been published from Chicago since 1945 and 1951, respectively. In its 40th year of publication, Ebony magazine had reached a circulation of 2,300,000. After which, Johnson began making the list of the richest individuals in the United States. In 1996, the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom was bestowed on Johnson by President Bill Clinton.

The company's subsidiaries include Fashion Fair Cosmetics and the Ebony Fashion Fair Show.

Johnson Publishing Company celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2002. The publishing company is headquartered in a free standing building in the South Loop of Chicago at 820 S. Michigan Avenue.

Photo: Entryway to Johnson Publishing Company building in Chicago

Robert Sengstacke Abbott and the Growth of Black News Publishing

Photo: Robert Sengstacke Abbott (b. Nov. 24, 1870 - d. Feb. 29, 1940)

Robert Sengstacke Abbott was born in Frederica, St. Simons Island, Georgia. Thomas Abbott, his father, was born into slavery in the US, but died when his son was still a baby. In 1869, Robert's mother, Flora Abbott, married John Sengstacke from a wealthy German merchant immigrant family. Robert retained his late father's name and took his step father's name as his middle name.

From 1892 to 1896, Robert studied the printing trade at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University). By 1898, Robert earned a law degree from Kent College of Law in Chicago, Illinois. He practiced law in Gary, Indiana, Topeka, Kansas, and Chicago, Illinois. Ultimately, he decided that he could better battle the system of white supremacy racial injustice through the mass media instead of the courtroom. Robert put down his law books and picked up his printing press. He would report the challenges and successes of African Americans, news that was important to their lives.

THE CHICAGO DEFENDER NEWSPAPER

With reportedly as little as 25 cents capital, Robert began the most widely-circulated Black newspaper in the United States. The Chicago Defender newspaper became the medium to voice the concerns of African Americans in Chicago. The newspaper made many outstanding contributions to journalism and ultimately to Black history. 

Image of Chicago Defender headline.

Established in November 29, 1905, the Chicago Defender would become the longest running African American newspaper publication in Chicago. The exchange of information from North to South -- through both the Chicago Defender and correspondence between relatives -- accelerated the Great Migration of African Americans to Chicago, resulting in an increase of 150% in the population of Black Chicago between 1910-1920.

City officials in Arkansas town seek ban on Chicago Defender newspaper.

The Great Migration of African Americans from U.S. southern states to Chicago was in part fueled by the Chicago Defender's voice against injustice and grand accounts of northern living at the onset of the U.S. industrial revolution. Originally housed in a converted synagogue from 1920 to 1960, the Chicago Defender rapidly developed into both the country's premier source for news of the northern migration of African Americans.

Chicago Defender typesetters prepare community news for mass distribution.

Black Pullman Porters, who were prosperous and well respected in the African American communities, became the Defender's national "delivery  men," distributing the newspapers to many southern towns. The newspaper became an important communication tool between Black Chicagoans and their relatives in the southern states. 

"My friends made fun of me," Robert is reported to have said about the tremendous opposition to his establishing the Chicago Defender. "They thought it was foolish of me to anticipate success in a field in which so many men before me had failed...but I went on fighting the opposition of my adversaries and the indifferences of my friends. I emerged victorious but battle-scarred."

The historic home of Robert S. Abbott

(4742 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in Chicago)

In 1929, Robert established the Bud Billiken Club and with David Kellum established Chicago's Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic. He resided in Chicago until his death from Bright's Disease in 1940. His home, established as a National Historical Landmark in 1976, was located at 4742 S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive in the Bronzeville community of Chicago. He left the Chicago Defender newspaper to his nephew John Henry Sengstacke. 

After more than 100 years of Black publishing history, Chicago Defender's 2007 issue headlines local politics.