The University of Iowa Libraries provides full access to this major African-American publication.  As the Black Studies Center from ProQuest notes:

“The Chicago Defender. Robert Sengstacke Abbott founded the Defender in May 1905 and by the outbreak of the First World War it had become the most widely-read black newspaper in the country, with more than two thirds of its readership based outside Chicago. When Abbott died in 1940, his nephew John Sengstacke became editor and publisher of the Defender, which began publishing on a daily basis in 1956.”

Chicago Defender (Black Studies Center) The full text backfile of the influential black newspaper The Chicago Defender is available through the Black Studies Center site. It includes the Saturday edition (1910 to 1975) and the Daily edition (1956-1975).

Chicago Defender (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
This database provides full page and article images with searchable full text from the Chicago daily defender (1966-1973 : Big weekend ed.), Chicago daily defender (1960-1973 : Daily ed.), Chicago defender (1905-1966 : Big weekend ed.), Chicago defender (1973-1975 : Big weekend ed.), Chicago defender (1973-1975 : Daily ed.), Chicago defender (1921-1967 : National ed.), and the Daily defender (1956-1960 : Daily ed.). The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue in PDF format.