Welcome to the Great Migration The Road to Self-Expression for The African American Summer Institute Project 3 Linda Kiefer and Deb Stence

Before there could be a renaissance, people had to get up to the northern cities

Not an easy trip… No matter how they got there

Get there by train by truck or car

In the South, most migrants had lived in three or four room cabins. was not uncommon for as many as five people to sleep in a single room.

Goodbye Cotton Fields Finally an Alternative to Sharecropping

Kitchenette Building by Gwendolyn Brooks Kitchenette Building by Gwendolyn Brooks We are things of dry hours and the involuntary plan, Grayed in, and gray. "Dream" mate, a giddy sound, not strong Like "rent", "feeding a wife", "satisfying a man". But could a dream sent up through onion fumes Its white and violet, fight with fried potatoes And yesterday's garbage ripening in the hall, Flutter, or sing an aria down these rooms, Even if we were willing to let it in, Had time to warm it, keep it very clean, Anticipate a message, let it begin? We wonder. But not well! not for a minute! Since Number Five is out of the bathroom now, We think of lukewarm water, hope to get in it.

Who said “The Livin’ is Easy?”

Hello Harlem, Detroit,Chicago 1920’s Hundreds of thousands of African Americans from rural south left sharecropping to join The Great (Northern) Migration: Economic opportunities Artistic freedom Racial pride Sense of community

Called it “The Harlem Renaissance” This initiative fueled political and economic aspirations of many African Americans Filled city with music and dance clubs New “jazz” music celebrated freedom of spirit, new assertiveness among African Americans “Spreadin’ Rhythm Around” pairs Billie Holiday’s distinct vocals with Teddy Wilson’s Orchestra to capture the vitality and confidence of this fascinating age through both music and lyrics

“Spreadin’ Rhythm Around” Ted Koehler/Jimmy McHugh Billie Holiday vocal Teddy Wilson Orchestra Music everywhere, feet are pattin Puttin tempo in old manhattan Everybody is out high hattin Spreadin rhythm around Everywhere you go trumpets are blarin Drums and saxophones rip and tearin Everybody you meet is rarin Spreadin rhythm around Up in harlem in every flat they give it that zing Which according to one and all is what they call swing Those who cant afford silk and satin Dance with gigolos who are latin Come from yonkers, the bronx and staten Spreadin rhythm around

That Was Music They Could Dance TO… Lindy Hop was the favorite of Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom By 1934 the Lindy Hop “took to the air” in response to faster tempo –

Writers gave the Renaissance a good name--celebrated black life for the first time: Langston Hughes: The Shakespeare of Harlem From The Oxford Companion to African American Literature, Oxford University Press, © Mother to Son Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor -- Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now -- For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. Hear it:

The Big Question : How does music define and characterize life of its times?

Questions for the song: Name 3 ways in which the instruments, the tempo, the beat, the rhythms of the song demonstrate the theme of the Harlem Renaissance?

What three specific words or phrases from the lyrics characterize the atmosphere of the city life? Identify two geographical references and point them out on the map? Identify and explain two pieces of figurative language Infer what might have been negative aspects of city life of its new residents

Related Activities Zora Neale Hurston Countee Cullen Jacob Lawrence