Discussion Post
“GREAT MIGRATION”
Dr. G. J. Giddings
Characteristics
Human
Propelled – push-pull (E. Lee, 1966)
Impactful – consequential … cause/effect
Dynamic – leaderless …democratic …
Demographics
Demographics
1.2 million, 1915-’30
6.4 million, 1980
(Caribbean:
140,000,1899-1937)
Precursors
Post-Reconstruction, 1877-1914
Rural - Urban
Westward – “Black Exodus”
Henry Adams (LA)
89,000 migrants/interest
Benjamin “Pap” Singleton (TN)
“Advantage of Living in a Free State”
Thousands migrated
Emigration
Bishop Henry M. Turner,
Mary Ann Shadd Cary
Precursors …
U.S. Empire
Berlin Conf.,1884
Philippines, 1898
Puerto Rico, Guam Hawaii,
(Cuba)
Haiti, (1915-’34)
U.S. Virgin Isl.,1916
Guyana, 1941
Atkinson Airstrip
6
Great Migration
Caribbean
140,000,1899-1937
M. M. Garvey
C. Powel
DJ Kool Herc
S. Chisholm
G. J. Giddings
Great Migration
“PUSH”
-Boll weevil, 1915/6
-Mississippi flood, 1927
-Racist Terroism
-Racist laws: Jim Crow
Great Migration
“PULL”
E. World War I, 1914-1919
(367,000 AAs served)
European immigration desisted
Chicago Defender
“To die from the bite of frost is more glorious than by the hands of a lynch mob”
“Every Black man for the sake of his wife and daughter should lave even at a financial sacrifice every spot in the south where his worth is not appreciated enough to give him the standing of a man and a citizen in the community.”
Great Migration
IMPACT
Detroit, MI
611 % increase
Urban League, 1911
National League of Urban Conditions among Negroes, NY
Rep. Oscar DePriest (R)
Chicago Alderman, 1915; U.S. Rep, 1929-’35
1970s: Chicago had more Blacks than Mississippi!
Harlem Renaissance, 1919-1932
L. Hughes, “Negro Artist …”
Some pastors followed migrants.
Return Migration/RE-PATRIATION
Post-Industrial
“Reverse migration”
1980-present
Service economy
“Sun Belt” industrial service areas
Destinations
Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC, Houston, TX, …
(F&H, chap. 23)
GREAT MIGRATION
Franklin & Higginbotham (F&H)
1, (12),13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 23 …
Great Migration
The Warmth of Other Suns, 2010
Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer laureate
National Book Critics Circle award
“best non-fiction ...” NY Times
1,200 interviews
I.M. Gladney
G. Starling
R. P. Foster
Wilkerson …
Ida Mae Gladney
1934
MS – Chicago, IL
Wilkerson …
George Starling
1945
Florida–New York
(Detroit)
Wilkerson …
Robert Foster, MD
1953
Louisiana – Los Angeles, CA
Giddings’ migration…
1963, Guyana
Atkinson Airport
Mom, aunties, grandmother, great aunt, friends
Giddings’ migration…
~1970, Guyana
Siblings
Giddings’ migration…
~1972, Guyana
Cousins
4 Guyanese
1 Canadian
Giddings’ migration…
~1983
9 Guyanese &
3 Americans