The Great Migration

Goals This presentation is about The Great Migration. It provides the historical background of events leading to The Great Migration, and is the introduction to a unit on The Harlem Renaissance.

What is the Great Migration? The Great Migration was a massive relocation of African Americans from the rural Southern states to cities of the North. The First Wave: 1910 to 1930 (1.6 million people). After 1930 the migration slowed down a bit because of the Great Depression (1929 to the early 1940’s). Second Wave: 1940 to 1970 (5 million people). The U.S. entered the Second World War in 1941.

They came from… Alabama Mississippi (To name a few States…) Louisiana

And went to… New York St. Louis As well as Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland Detroit

Why is the Great Migration Important To This Class? This is our lead into The Harlem Renaissance (1918 to 1937), the most influential movement in African American artistic/cultural history. The Great Migration provides the historical background for our next writers. This information will also lead up to the play, “A Raisin in the Sun.”

Why did African Americans leave the South?

Let’s Go Back in the Time Machine… The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863. Four million people, poor, displaced, and mostly illiterate, are free but homeless.  

The Civil War did not end until 1865 (it started in 1861) The Civil War did not end until 1865 (it started in 1861). Some “freedmen” ran to the Union army for protection. The Union army didn’t know what to do with these “refugees,” it could barely care for its own troops. Many freed slaves died of diseases in the Union stockades.  

  Many took to the roads in search of work, sometimes traveling over mountains with little more than their clothes

Despite their apparent freedom, African Americans received little protection in the South. To a certain extent, they took one step forward and two steps back. Reconstruction was a failure… The Civil Rights Act of 1875 guaranteed African Americans equal treatment in public places, public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from jury service. The law was hardly ever enforced and The Supreme Court decided the act was unconstitutional in 1883.

The Journey African Americans traveled by train, boat, bus, car, and even in horse drawn carriages. Travelers were segregated in public transit waiting rooms and en-route. African American travelers could find little to eat or drink on their stops. The journey was long and slow. Many stopped to find work along the way. This was called “step migration.”

Did they have a “Happily Ever After?” Not Exactly… The Migration created housing shortages in urban areas. Banks limit lending to Blacks. Migrants lived in tenement housing. During this time Harlem became the “Black Mecca.” “Separate But Equal” (Jim Crowe system 1876-1965) becomes common-place. They were snubbed by existing White immigrant labor groups because they are willing to work for a lower wage.

But it was also a time of opportunity… But it was also a time of opportunity….many Southerners flourished in the North Many go to college in the North and become professionals. An African American middle class is established. Jazz music, and other African American artistic expressions blossom and become part of “main-stream” culture. This period is known as the “Harlem Renaissance.” African Americans begin to “organize”. This period sees the establishment of NAACP in 1909 under the leadership of W.E.B DuBois; the National Urban League (which worked to give employment training to those immigrating from the South.); and the “Back to Africa Movement.”

1. One reason for The Great Migration was: They were running away from slavery It was too hot in the South They didn’t want to farm anymore The economic instability of the South.

YOU WERE PAYING ATTENTION! GREAT!

…In the words of Paul Laurence Dunbar in his poem entitled “Sympathy” (1899) “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, -- When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings— I know why the caged bird sings!”