Sengstacke also used the Defender as a means to grow the community, writing stories about Northern city life that enticed African-American residents of the Southern United States to move to Chicago, a phenomenon that came to be known as the Great Migration. Like other giants of the contemporary black press, the Defender enjoyed substantial circulation across the nation.
Sengstacke utilized the Defender as a means to expand the community's influence, writing stories about urban life in the North that attracted African-American residents from the South to move to Chicago, leading to the Great Migration. Similar to other influential black press leaders, the Defender had a broad national readership.