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Abbott attended the Hampton Institute in Virginia where he met the eminent Booker T. Washington (a graduate of Hampton, who returned to the institute frequently), Abbott graduated in 1896. He completed his law degree at Kent College of Chicago but failed to establish a law practice in several Midwestern cities (due to racial struggles); he gave up the attempt and went to work as a printer. In 1905, he borrowed paper and ink from a print shop owner and launched his own newspaper, The Chicago Defender, which became his life's work. His work (The Chicago Defender) posted job notices and encouraged movement of black Americans from one location to another, he used his medium to fight racial prejudice to the best of his abilities. He also established newspapers in Detroit and in Louisville, Kentucky, and was appointed to many civic commissions and boards in Chicago. At his death, Major Edward J. Kelley of Chicago described him as “among the immortals of his race.”
