BUILDING THE BLACK PRESS
  • BUILDING HISTORY
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • BLOG
  • STORYMAPS
  • BUILDING HISTORY
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • BLOG
  • STORYMAPS

BLOG

ALL THE BLACK PRESS NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT...

CHICAGO DEFENDER HEADQUARTERS FEATURES AS PART OF "THE OBSIDIAN COLLECTION"

12/7/2018

 
For the uninitiated, the Obsidian Collection is an ongoing digital history project focused on archiving and digitising black press collections. According to Obsidian's website, its primary goal is to "preseve and share images from African American newspapers for future generations."

The project has partnered up with Google Arts & Culture to produce a series of online 'Stories' which mine content from black newspapers and black photographers. The most recent Story produced focused on the Chicago Defender's relocation from South Indiana to 2400 South Michigan Avenue on Motor Row in 1960.

Picture
New lettering for the building, 1960. Chicago Defender Archives
There are some great images of the newspaper's relocation available through Google Arts & Culture, including the above shot of workmen attaching the newspaper's signage to the exterior of the building. Earlier pamphlets advertising the Defender's location at 3435 South Indiana made a big deal out of the building's signage, point to it as evidence of the newspaper's cultural and political reach over and beyond the South Side. It appears as if such efforts were maintained at the new location.

The photograph below is one of my favourite from the collection, picturing an unnamed woman, apparently an employee at the Defender, posing next to the street sign marking the newspaper's new location at 24th Street and South Michigan. If anyone knows who this lady might be, please get in touch!

For more images go to "The Chicago Defender's New Headquarters", hosted on Google Arts & Culture for the Obsidian Collection
Picture
"Lovely lady at new Chicago Defender Location, 1960." Chicago Defender Archives.

    ARCHIVE

    January 2021
    October 2020
    August 2020
    January 2020
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    March 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015

    TAGS

    All
    20th Century
    21st Century
    Afro-American
    Alexandre Keto
    American Newsreel
    Arthur Elrod
    Baltimore
    Chicago
    Chicago Bee
    Chicago Defender
    Columbia College Chicago
    EBONY
    Exterior
    Interior
    John H. Johnson
    Johnson Publishing
    Johnson Publishing Company
    Lee Bey
    Los Angeles Sentinel
    Marina Zumi
    Muhammad Speaks
    NEWS
    New York
    New York Amsterdam News
    Palm Springs
    Pittsburgh Courier
    Public Art
    Revel Motor Row
    Teenie Harris
    The Obsidian Collection

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 
​
© 2020 Building the Black Press