Black Experiences in the North We are exploring the positive and negative experiences of Black Americans in the northern states.

Black experiences in the northern states Good POINT POINT POINT Black experiences in the northern states POINT POINT POINT Bad

Many Black migrants found that life was much better in the North However, many soon discovered that the same problems they had moved to escape existed in there

Ways in which life was better… No official segregation (no Jim Crow Laws)

Ways in which life was better… Pride in Black culture led to boom in Black music and art.

Ways in which life was better… For many the jobs, wages and housing were better than the South Government was forced to realise segregation and discrimination existed

Ways in which life was not better… Black people and poor whites competed for the same jobs and the same housing in times of recession Black people could only get the worst jobs and housing

Ways in which life was not better… The North was still a racially prejudiced society…. Segregation still existed Blacks ended up living in ghettos

Ways in which life was not better… The North was still a racially prejudiced society…. There were race riots in some cities e.g. Chicago, Tulsa. Homes and businesses of Black people were destroyed in the Tulsa riots of 1921. 600 businesses, 21 churches and the livelihoods of 3000 black Americans are ruined. Police sided with the whites.

Compare the views in Source A and B about segregation. (4) SOURCE A is an extract from the US Supreme Court judgement on segregated railway coaches. (Plessey v Ferguson 1896). We cannot say that a law that requires the separation of the two races in public conveyances (trains) is unreasonable. The enforced separation of the two races does not necessarily mean the inferiority of one race to the other. If this is so, it is only because the coloured race chooses to put that construction upon it. SOURCE B is by Supreme Court Judge John Marshall Harlan who voted against the decision in the Plessey v Ferguson case of 1896. What is more likely to arouse race hate, and a feeling of distrust between the races, than laws which state that coloured citizens are so inferior that they cannot be allowed to sit in public coaches occupied by white citizens? The thin disguise of "equal" accommodation for passengers in railroad coaches will not fool anyone, nor make up for the wrong done this day. Compare the views in Source A and B about segregation. (4)

Describe, in detail, life for Black Americans in the northern states