Throughout history, people change locations when things are bad and hope lies somewhere else. Most of the people coming to the New World are driven by this idea. Since life is hard for many in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa, people are attracted to the freedom and promise of North America.
Of course, many African Americans are carried to the United States against their will on brutal slave ships. For about 250 years these hard-working, long-suffering people toil in the harshest, most demanding jobs in the American South. After the Civil War, sharecropping takes the place of slavery. While not officially slavery, sharecropping ensures that the poor farmers will never make enough money to escape its clutches. Sharecropping keeps people destitute and economically imprisoned.
This terrible situation begins changing at the end of World War I. Many jobs are created in the North and there is a need for manpower. To many poor African Americans, this is the opportunity they have been waiting for, and more than one million African Americans start moving north. Eloise Greenfield describes this massive cultural event in her excellent book, "The Great Migration: Journey to the North."
The story begins with a poor African American family in North Carolina hearing about the wonderful opportunities in the North. Having lived with racially discriminatory laws their entire lives, these letters and newspaper articles sent by relatives seem too good to be true. There seems to be a great deal of work available in stock yards, factories and railroads. Compared to the bare existence being eked out in the tobacco and cotton fields of the South, these comparatively well-paying jobs promise a completely different life.
But most of these people had never been out of the areas where they were born. How do people find the courage to strike out in a completely different manner? Will the terrible economic times give the first push to begin the migration?
The father receives word that his relatives will let him stay with them as he finds work. So with a mixture of fear and hope, he moves to Washington, D.C. His wife waves goodbye and tearfully walks back home with her two little babies. True to his word, one month later, the father sends his wife three train tickets to Washington, D.C. She packs their possessions and leaves behind the only life she has ever known. On the way north, they meet countless other poor African Americans waiting in other train stations heading out of the South. After one day and night of travelling, the train pulls into Washington, D.C. There they are met by the father and he guides his family to a better life.
What do these southern African Americans find in the northern cities? Racial discrimination is also found throughout the North. Why do so many millions believe the migration will lead to a happier life? Why are the inner cities seen by these immigrants as a protective oasis from societal problems? How does this great movement of people change American culture? To find out, go to the library and read "The Great Migration: Journey to the North," by Eloise Greenfield.
A second migration of African Americans occurred during World War II. This movement totaled more than five million people coming north and some moving west after 1940. In recent decades, as racial discrimination and prejudice has lessened, and economic opportunities have improved, a substantial number of African Americans have returned to the South.
Middle elementary school teachers will find this book useful in social studies classes. I hope you get a chance to read this book and discuss its contents with your children.
