Its the middle of the week. And you all came out to be a part of this conversation. Im pleased to have you here. I wanted to talk about this image from Jacob Lawrence. It is a 60piece art creation. What is interesting about it is lawrence created it as a result of learning more about his own family. That his parents were migrants to the north. I think from virginia, if i remember correctly. He learned about the migration by talking to them and talking to other members of his family as well as other people in his neighborhood. It intrigued him so much he wanted to capture that story, capture that history, understood all the parts to it. I want to start with this because what i will talk to you about is the stories and the history he learned. Like to talk about it because i am, in fact, the grandchild of migrants. Migrated from first from south carolina. Pickens county, south carolina. Anybody know Pickens County . Bah. [laughter] from there to atlanta, georgia. You know that one. From there to cleveland, ohio. My father was born in cleveland, ohio in the 1920s. They moved northwards as a consequence of the great migration. So this story was a chance for me to learn about my Family History and figure out how africanAmerican History fit into the general history of this country. What i want to talk about tonight is the great migration. Keep in mind if there were two major relocations of africanamerican populations in the 20th century. It was one ran roughly from 1910 to 1930. Theres another burst that took place around 1940 to 1970. In each case, more than a million individuals relocated from southern parts of the country. Mostly rural areas to northern parts and western parts of the country as well. Tonight, i want to focus mostly on that great migration taking place between 1910 and 1930. As you can see from the image, it is the movement of africanamericans, who mostly live in the south. Keep in mind, by the turn of the century, 90 of the africanamerican population lived in the southern parts of the United States. So this great Migration Movement from the south mostly to northern urban areas , representing a major demographic change in the location of africanamericans in this country. [indiscernible] prof. Crew they would like the lights dimmed. Is that doable . What they told me, ims supposed to be micd. I guess that is not working . Hold on. Well see. Is this better . Ok. All right. Saying, 90 of the africanamerican population, prior to 1900, lived in the south. Most of them lived in rural areas and the south. So this great migration march is an important demographic shift in the location of africanamericans in this country. Moved from rural areas to urban areas, urban areas in the south, but also urban areas in the north. And it really, i think, changed the way this country had to think about issues of race and issues of segregation and racial relationships. As you can see from this map here, this gives you a sense where most of the africanamerican population is located in the early part of the century, around 1900, with the largest numbers located in the south and mostly in rural areas, not cities. Fromchange, as you can see this graph, begins to shift as you get from 1890 going towards 1930. The majority of the people still live in the rural areas in the south. But clearly, more and more are moving to urban areas, and more and more are moving to northern urban areas as well. And most of this movement was to larger cities in the north. Cities like chicago, detroit, cleveland, philadelphia, and new york. And you can see the major shift taking place between 1910 and 1920. For example, in detroit is the tort up there . It should be. Drug goes from 71,000 2 i am sorry. Here we go. I cant read it this way. [laughter] from 8000 in 1910 to 120,000 in 1930. And you can see similar changes taking place in other places. Philadelphia goes from 84,000 in 1910 to 220,000 by 1930. This is a massive shift in the number of africanamericans living in these cities during this time. Similar changes take lace in southern cities as well. For example, in atlanta, they go from 52000 and african immigrants living in that city in 1910 to over 100,000 African Americans living in that city by 1930. So some doubling of the population in a short period of time. Washington, d. C. Is similar to the southern cities, but it is also somewhat different. By 1900, washington, d. C. Had one of the largest percentages of africanamericans in its population than any city in the country. In fact, the largest percentage of africanamericans living in any city in the country. It had 190,000 members in the city. 86,000 were africanamericans. About 45 of the population, which was a really different sort of setting than most cities. Many of them came to washington, d. C. Because of the opportunities available in the federal government. But also, they were interested in the opportunities connected with the educational institutions located in washington, d. C. Like howard university, which was renowned for educating africanamericans, which had its beginnings in in the civil war after 1877. Also a great interest as a Preparatory School for colored youth in the city. Which was the First Public High School in this area. It attracted collegebound africanamerican students from all other the country. Many of you may know it at her as the instate high school, or dunbar high school. Parents were known to move from all over the country to bring their children to washington, d. C. To be educated at this place. The teachers there were among the last educated individuals in the country. They were highly respected and highly noted for their ability to train young people to go on to higher education. Some of the first africanamericans to go to places like amherst were trained at min washington, d. C. Street or then dunbar high , school. This was a place to be for a lot of places. Washington was a little bit different. In the sense it already has a sizeable population. But they still witnessed a great increase in the numbers in this period between 1910 to 1930. In 1910, there were 94,000 africanamericans living in the city. By 1930, it had gone up to 110,000. It wasnt as dramatic as you might see in detroit. Or you might have seen in places like new york. But its still a very large increase in the size of the africanamerican population. Many of these individuals came to washington, d. C. And had to lay the in some of the more had to live in some of the more congested areas of the city. Places like brentwood, southwest areas, and the back alley around the capitol. Most of the jobs they got was lower levels of occupation. Usually as laborers or maids or other kinds of workers. The jobs they got were not the best ones, but they were jobs. Better than the jobs they felt they could get down south. The challenge that came with that massive change in the numbers of africanamericans living in the citys is that the cities did not always respond positively to this increase, in numbersincrease in terms of the africanamerican population. In some cities, the response is very negative. In east st. Louis, illinois, there was a major outbreak of violence in 1917. After more than 10,000 africanamericans moved to the city in just one year from 1916 to 1917. They had to worst racial rioting in the country, to that time in , that city. The riots raged nearly a week. Nine whites and at least 40 africanamericans killed. And more than 40,000 worth of damage to property. Rioting also took place in washington, d. C. , even though the numbers in the change were not quite as high. What happened in washington was that there was a lot of resentment emerging from former soldiers who came back to the city and couldnt find work. They were resentful of seeing African Americans who had worked, and they were doing things like panhandling in their uniform on the streets of washington, d. C. And they resented this black invasion into washington neighborhoods around capitol hill and around the downtown. To them, this was unacceptable. The violence began when white military individuals heard a rumor that the wife of one of their numbers had in assaulted by an effort by an african american, and that man escaped. They got angry and began going attackingtreet, africanamericans, whoever they saw them, no matter what. The riot lasted for four days and resulted in the death of more than 30 people. But what was different about this was after the second or third day, africanamerican veterans, acting the war as well, decided they would not accept this any longer. The response was if they were shot at, they would shoot back. This, i think forced the , government to step in and to bring the rioting back under control. Who was new about this riot and summer s in this in what is called red summer of 1919, for the first time, you have africanamericans respond back to riots coming to their neighborhoods. They decided they will not accept this treatment longer. You see a shift at how relationships are beginning to change in different parts of the country. As we look at these changes taking place, influx of new individuals into the city both north and south. The question becomes why does this change take place at this particular time . Why wait until quarter of the 20th century to make the choice to move northward . There were a number of factors that played into this change. They are often referred to as pushpull factors. Things pushing them out, things pulling them north. Probably the most important change that took place was the start of world war i. Because a number of actions tourred during the war help influence the need for african reckons to move north. The first is that the United States is drawn into it. The consequence is more men are pulled into the military. This means they are pulled out of factories, businesses. The jobs were, occupied by european americans. Secondly, immigration to the countrys cut off as well, because you no longer had lots of immigrants coming to the country because a submarine warfare. Plus, others are going back to fight for their own nation back in europe. So the result [indiscernible] prof. Crew i am going to hold it up here, because clearly, it is not working. Is that better . If you cant hear again, raise your hand. So, as i was saying, part of their problem is that the immigrants are going back home to their homeland and fighting there as well. So what industry is fighting to be the case is that they have a lack of workers to help repair the munitions and supplies needed for the war effort. Weather begins to do is figure out where else can we find people to hold these jobs . So for the first time ever, positions for africanamericans in northern industry begin to become available. So, theres now a reason to move to the north, moved to the cities, because there are jobs. Youre not just going there to do nothing. To go to thesece northern locations and find work, which you could not do before. The reason they are willing and able to do this is because of conditions in the south. Push factors are taking place. Life in the south, in rural areas in the south, for africanamericans had not been very pleasant for a very long time. They did not get control of the land the way they had hoped. After the civil war, one of the questions asked of the formerly enslaved was what do you need most in order to be successful now that slavery is over . And the answer, almost all the time, was we need land. If we can control the land, we can control our future. The difficulty was that congress was not willing to take away the land of the southern landowners and give them back to slaves. What happened is that africanamericans then had to borrow or rent land from the landowners in order to earn a living. The system that comes up during this time period is called the system of sharecropping. You heard of that . Its just as the word says. Sharecropping means that you rent the land, and the payment is by giving back a share of the crop that you grew that year. How much you gave back depended upon what you brought to the equation. If you had a mule and seed, you might only have to give 50 of your crop back to landowner. If you did not have land or seed or a mule, you might have to give more. I mean 25 if you owned mule and seed, 50 if you didnt own that those individual. On top of that, you had to rent or at least by your food from the local store. What this meant was that you had that theyir prices were charged. You did not have cash, so you would do it on credit. You can see, from this sample , where iping contract made large this section, because it gives you a sense of what the requirements were to be sharecropper. Essentially, you had to first pay the landowner a portion of your crop at the end of the year. And what if you do not have enough to pay them off . You reserve the rest of the crop and your time to his benefit. Which means if you cannot pay off this years crop, you stay and work on the crop next year. And if you do not have enough the next year, you. Next year. What happens is you are getting further and further in debt and further and further out of the control of the landowner. I would like to make a parallel in terms of this kind of situation. Coal miners, i think, sort of faced a similar thing. Do any of you remember tennessee earning forward . Great. People my age. I like that. One of the songs was 16 times. What was the key line from it . [indiscernible] the more you work, the deeper in debt you got. Same thing with sharecroppers. The more they worked, if you didnt create enough to pay it off, you got deeper in debt. On top of that, if you get if he had to get your food at the local store, owned by the landowner you did it on credit. ,if you could not pay off that credit, you were more in debt. Essentially what happens with the system of sharecropping, it puts the people who were sharecroppers deeper and deeper in debt and puts them under the control of the landlord. And if you tried not to pay the debt, you tried to escape, the problem was that you could be arrested and put in jail for not having paid your debt, for being a debtor. This was no better. Now, if you are in jail, they would take your labor and lease it to local landowners. You have heard of the convict lease system. Essentially, this would happen to those who tried to escape their debts to your they would be arrested, placed in jail, and then your labor would be used to factories, build clean forests, do a wide variety of things. By the localented landlord. Some people describe this as being worse than slavery. I think it may have been. It really cap do under the control of the of the local landlord with no options in terms of your future. So the system of sharecropping really did not work to the advantage of africanamericans working as farmers during this time period. It was not much better for those who were laborers. Laborers were not well paid. The consequence, theres was also very much of a hand to mouth existence. So when the opportunity came to may be get away from the south and go northward to work in these factories, they looked at the opportunity and wanted to take advantage of it. The northern industry was happy to try to provide them with the work, because they needed the workers. This is part of what was going on in this time to move this forward. Of the pushback that would encourage africanamericans to move forward had to do with political circumstances in the south. Because once the civil war is over, once reconstruction was over, one of the things that happened consistently is the states in the south, they were able to rewrite their constitutions in the years that followed. During that time period, they used the state constitutional conventions as a way of putting new rules and regulations into place that began to deprive African Americans of their political and social rights. You began to see a number of very interesting devices put into place during this time period. Driven by the Supreme Court, who is making rulings that are beginning to say that these issues are ok to do within certain parameters. One of the most important case is the one of here, which is the. Reed, which v could dish which was could the state passed laws that would deprive African Americans of their rights . What the court says, because of the 15th amendment, you may not prevent a person from voting because of their race, color or previous condition of servitude. However, if you dont use that a device, you can do other things. Because it does not guarantee everyone right to vote. It just says you cannot stop them from voting if you go down this pathway. Well, southern lawyers are creative and inventive. They take this cue from the Supreme Court. And so rather than using race and color as the device to prevent people from voting, they come up with a series of new devices to stop people from voting without going down that pathway. The first of these is put in place is the poll tax thats done my florida when it does its new state constitution in 1889. Essentially, what a poll tax does is say that if you want to vote, you have to pay for the right. And how much is the poll tax on this one . How much . 1. 50 plus . 50 is 2. That is not much for us. But think about it and you are a sharecropper. You do not make much money. With ao half credit local store. You have to choose between money for your family to eat or for you to vote. What do you choose . You feed your family. So even a small poll talks like this, two dollars it was more than 2 like it is today. Was a way to discouraging people in these locations from voting. Have they talked about race or color . No. They found a different device to use. And they continue to find other devices to deploy during this time period. Probably most inventive one is done by mississippi in their state constitution in 1890. Whether do is put in a whole series of new devices to control , again following the guidelines of the Supreme Court. One of the things they create are residency requirements, which state you have to live in the state at least two years and live in the county where you are voting for at least another year if you wanted the right to vote. So you really had to have lived there for a while to ensure you got that right. They also said if you had been convicted of any crime that you could not vote in an upcoming election. If he had been convicted of stealing, convicted for just not working, put in jail, you could not vote. Also, they said you had to be current on all your taxes to that point, including your poll tax. If he had not done that, you could not vote. The other device they put into place was a literacy test. It was not new to mississippi, but it was applied in new kinds of ways. The way the literacy tests work was that you had to read either a part of the constitution or some other written piece of information to the satisfaction of the local registrar. If you could not do that, he could say you did not qualified to vote. Strangely enough, most africanamericans, no matter how well educated you could be a harvard graduate somehow could not read it to the specifications of the registrar. On top of that, they also had an understanding cause. It was not just that you had to read it if you could not read it well enough, but if you could understand it to the specifications of the registrar, you were allowed to vote. Again, this is very selective. It was not a surprise most africanamericans could not either reader to specifications or understand it. By doing this, what they were able to do was prevent most toicanamericans from voting the discretion of the registrar. So they are using the guidelines of the Supreme Court to find devices to deprive people of the right to vote through these devices. Is followed by louisiana in 1898. They create what is called the grandfather clause. Normally isr clause ukraine a law that is meant to provide a way around a previous way of doing things. Whether do with their grandfather clause in louisiana is basically say that if your inndfather could vote louisiana in 1867, you could vote in louisiana after 1898. If youre ran father could not vote before 1867, you cannot 1860 louisiana in 1898. Who does that exclude . Mostly africanamericans. Because in 1867, you are not allowed to vote. Also, places like texas excluded mexicanamericans as well. Put inton is a device place. The idea that we are not talking aboutcolor, not talking previous conditions of servitude, but we are creating ways by which we can deprive people of the right to vote in the state. Awaythis also does is take the influence that these individuals could have within these states. Because if you could not vote, politicians do not care about your issues. Because you cannot get them out of office, because your vote does not matter. Also, often, when making selections for jury duty and other things, they do it from the voter rolls. If youre not on the voter rolls, youre not allowed to do that as well. Essentially, by putting these ices in place literary literacy tests, then father clause, poll taxes, is taking away the rights of the citizens and making sure they would not have influence in the politics. Is they are directing decisionmaking in these states. These devices are there effective in terms of how they begin to reduce the number of africanamericans able to vote. If we look at louisiana in 1896, before the wereconstitution, there 130 thousand registered africanamerican voters in that state. Which is not a lot given the side of the state, that it was a goodly number. By 1900, 2 years after the new state constitution, there are 5000 black voters. Pretty effective, wouldnt yo u say . And none of these people have influence over people running for office. People inlows the power, legislators, to pass other legislation that now that the political direction of the state but also the social activities and social interaction taking place as well. Now, they are looking at ways to increase the separation of the races in the south. This happens with the emergence of the system of segregation called jim crow laws. Jim crow laws have happen very quickly in the south. Essentially, what they do, as you can see from the examples appear, is legislate the interaction or defeat the interaction of different parts of the population in these states. Itle we often forget is that is not only controlling the choices of africanamericans, it is also controlling the choices of whites. If you choose to go against this, you are, at minimum, also ostracized, and maybe treated violently by your neighbors. So the system of jim crow laws is one that says you have no choice. You must adhere to how you operate, no matter what your feelings might he about segregation and jim crow laws. This idea of jim crow laws has an interesting history. It really gets its start as a result of an actor who would do earlyace presentations in 1832. His name was thomas b. Rice. He was based on a crippled africanamerican he saw in cincinnati. He created a song to go with it. The song became popular during the latter half of the 19th century. He performed this act all over the country. After a while, the oil idea of segregation began to be associated with the idea of jim crow, because it is a rationalization of why you separation, because some of the africanamericans were like this character, so they should be separated from everyone else. With thee case politics and the restrictions put in place, jim crow laws are put in place all across the south. In most of the south, below the masondixon line, you can see these pieces of legislation going into effect. They are also put into effect in tennessee, with the first one being created around the issue of schools and legislating the segregation of schools in that state. Then, they went to hotels and restaurants, saying they had to keep their places controlled interment in terms of the access that people of color could have in these places. In 1881, it went on to transportation. Requiredcompanies are to provide separate cars for colored passengers. What is this what is the penalty if you do not do that . 100. Who gets the 100 . Half to the snitch, half to the state. Youre are creating a system where if people broke though rules, you could create money for turning them in. It creates people it makes people part of a system and locks them in, making the system even more restrictive and difficult. Began to spread across the country. Iny even occur here virginia. Virginia creates a new state constitution in 1902. That new state constitution, they begin to many aspects of africanamerican interactions in the state. They control who are in the who run the schools, where you could go to eat in a restaurant. The even said you could go to the librarys, where there were white books and colored books that you could get. I ran across this story not too long ago where one of the astronauts, a young boy during the 1930s, wanted to go to the library to get a book. He went into the white side, and the library and asked him what do you want to do here . And i want to get a book the librarian said you could not do it here, it was the white library. Called the police to throw him out. It stuck with them a long time. So this works to separate the races and remind africanamericans that they were , status,e same level as others in that state. You also have laws against voting in virginia as well. You could see the number of registered voters dropping precipitously after 1902. What also adds to the strength of this piece of legislation what also adds to these pieces of legislation have to do with the Supreme Court. I talked about the u. S. Versus reses. The most important case in terms of really giving support to the idea of segregation and jim crow laws is the case of plessy versus ferguson of 1896. Probably the most Important Court case in terms of civil rights in the country to that point. It is a very interesting story in terms of how it operates. It is in the state of louisiana, in 1890. The state Legislature Passes a , it is called the car act of 1890. Essentially, it requires that blacks and whites be forced to sit in separate cars if they travel within the state of louisiana. Africanamerican civil Rights Groups in the louisiana are not happy about this. They find this as a piece of legislation that begins to change the atmosphere in their state. Before that, it had not been regulated. They decided what they needed to do is test this law and case to what they do is they ask this young man, homer plessy, to break the law. They ask him to get on the train traveling within the state of louisiana from one city into new orleans, and to sit in the white only car. Keep in mind, that plessy is a very fair skinned africanamerican. He is 8 9 white. He is 1 9 africanamerican. He buys his ticket, he gets on the train, so its in the conductor comes, he says i am 1 9 africanamerican, and i refuse to sit in the black car. The conductor immediately has him arrested and put in jail. He is bailed out, and is brought back to court several days later. In the court, he is put on trial by judge ferguson. Judge ferguson rules that he has broken the law, and that louisiana has the right to regulate how people can travel within the state. Plessy and other states say no, this is not true. We have laws that say you cannot do this. They appeal to the state Supreme Court in louisiana who support ferguson, but then they give it to the Supreme Court of the United States. The case goes to the Supreme Court in 1895. Make into do a decision in 1896. A vote of the 71, the court says and upholds the law created in louisiana. They say that in fact, as long as the facilities are separate and equal, that there is no harm done to anyone. That in fact it is within the measure of the constitution and totally legal to do. The only judge to defend this is John Marshall who says this is terrible. It is going to create a difficult situation for africanamericans going forward. He is right. From that point on, separate but equal because the guidelines for interracial relationships in the south for the next 50 years or longer. The reality is that it is never separate but equal. A better way to describe it is separate but not equal. The court case is critical because what it does is to set the tone for how the country is going to look at issues of race, and issues of segregation in the nation going forward. By having the Supreme Court on their side, what this means now is that africanamericans have little recourse in terms of pushing back against the system of segregation. In fact, if they try to do that, they response back to them is often swift, violent, and sometimes death connecting with it. It is estimated that during this time period in the history of the country, between 1890 and 1920, more than 3000 people are lynched in the country, connected to the segregation, separate but equal laws. There are race riots that take place across the country. What it was was a reminder that if you dare to go against the law of the land in those areas, repercussions could be swift and they will be deadly. These are among the pushback. The other one is more of an economic one. It has to do with the rise of a believable. Has anyone seen a boweevil . They eat cotton. As you get toward the turn of the century, they move from texas into other parts of the south. If they do this, they are destroying the crops. They make it more and more difficult for sharecroppers and propers to make their crops. The spread of them and floods that happened around 1950 all working its way to make life in the south difficult and challenging for people who were agriculturally based which were primarily the role and position of africanamericans. Given that this changes are taking place in the south, the war has started, Northern Industries think they have prime candidates to recruit to come north to work in these factories. This is what happens in this time period that gives emphasis and motivation to the great migration. The industries are very wise about trying to find ways of encouraging this movement to take place. One of the things they do is higher labor recruiters to go south, and to encourage people to come north and advertise these jobs. Jobs like this one in philadelphia and in new york. There are lots of jobs because you need workers to do the work. The labor recruiters in the south are often friends and relatives of people in the areas where they go south. When they talk to people, the people they contact our people they know and they believe the information they are given is true. The consequence that they are taking the chance, it is chancy to leave because if you are caught, you are in a much worse situation. It is also chancy for the labor recruiters as well. The south is not happy about losing a cheap source of labor. They need that cheap source of labor. They are trying to prevent it. One of the stories i ran into was a labor recruiter who went south, found his friend, talk to him about going north to get a bunch on the train to head north with him. Before the train took off, the sheriff came onto the train saying, we want to take him to talk to him. Who is he . They searched everyone. They turned up their pockets. They cannot find anything. They allow them to go on their way. He said later on, a good thing they did not check in my shoes because i took those tickets in my shoes. Otherwise i would be a dead man. He and others were in jeopardy. The opportunities were not to be passed by in terms of what the north had offered this time period. The companies in the north would offer train tickets to go north. They also offered higher wages in the north. And a higher standard of living and more opportunities that were not available in the south. The other way the news was shared between the south and north was by way of black newspapers. They were critical sources of information about what was taking place in the opportunities available. Newspapers like the chicago defender. The editor was avid. In the chicago defender, they would talk about the opportunities in the north, the jobs available, the housing that could be obtained, and encouraged people to come north. They were also publishing letters about the success they had going north. His belief was the future for African Americans were no longer in the south. They should go north and find work there. In his newspaper, he made sure that was the message he sent forward. He was not alone. In virginia, their wish to plant it by mitchell, who is also a black newspaper that was in support of migration, mitchell was angry and unhappy about the murders and lynchings and all the violent and discrimination directed toward africanamericans. He counseled people to leave. He said, you do not have to put up with this. Go north and find a better life, do not stay here. These are the kinds of messages they were offering. Here in washington dc, the be offered the same point of view. The editor of this newspaper was William Calvin chase. He was a graduate of harvard university. He created this newspaper in 1875. The paper had news and events in the Africanamerican Community and highlighted job opportunities, places to stay, and other positive things about life in washington dc. He encouraged people to think about coming to the city as a better place to live and a better place for opportunity. Along with the newspapers, and along with labor recruiters, the other Critical Group of individuals in terms of sharing information and helping the migration have momentum, where reporters. Reporters were a very important part of the africanamerican population. They were welltraveled, they were knowledgeable, and they had access to information. It was through them that if they traveled, they would tell people where they might find jobs. They would tell people where there might be places to stay. They would tell them who to talk to when you moved to these cities. And provided information you needed to think about this process. They were individuals who would distribute newspapers, particularly the chicago defender. They made sure they read about the opportunities available. They were a key source of information, a key source of guidance for those thinking about heading north and having a better life. I think about them instead of the internet of that time period, that they were spreading information and connecting people to places. And using their role and travels as a way of learning about things. Keep in mind that their primary job was to serve well upper class travelers on the train. While serving them, they could listen and figure out what the best place for opportunities were. They were an important source of information about the possibility for people who wanted to move north. Through the newspapers, through the porters, and through others, he began to have a net worth of information that was giving those considering migrating data to think about this carefully even more Important Information in terms of people thinking about moving north and going to these new places were individuals who might have gone to these cities earlier who would write back, callback, reconnected back to let people know about opportunities. W. E. B. Dubouis was one of the most brilliant men of the 20th century. There were a lot of people in philadelphia who were born in virginia, north and south carolina, and marilyn who moved to that city. He thought this was an interesting phenomenon in terms of the makeup of the city. What is important for us is it shows there were people there who begin to connect back and share information about where the opportunities and possibilities of living in these cities. These connections existed in washington d. C. If you were to look at the consensus and the place of birth, many of the individuals what you would find as many of them were born in virginia, maryland, or north and south carolina. You have this earlier group of individuals, not anything large numbers who would come to this state who were sharing information back and forth. Washington had one of the largest percentages of africanamerican populations, even before the great migration. These people were there to give them information about how to think about this. I think what this allows them to do is to make thoughtful decisions about the migration. Often, you will hear that people ran away overnight. They would head north and get a job. That is not the case. Instead, what is going on is that they were gathering information and data about how to go there. Newspapers were a important source of that. If you look at the new york journal and guide, one of the things that was going on was this constant stream of individuals going back and forth between northern cities and newport where they were located. In norfork where they were located. There were connections going back and forth of people gathering informations. They would go north for weddings, for other occasions. On the other hand, people would come back south for the birth of a grandchild, you might come back for a homecoming. You all know about homecoming for church . Homecoming . It is people coming back home for Church Services to reconnect with families. What happens is when you come back, you come back and talk with family members about your experiences in the north. What this does is it helps spread the information and allows it to be shared by others. As individuals made choices to head northward, they did it in a thoughtful way. They did not just pick up their luggage and takeoff. They began to think it through because it took money to do this. You could not just go north and hop in. You had to have a plan. Very often, what would occur is chain migration. That would be one person would go, others would follow, then they would settle in with the help of individuals. My family did it. My family started off in south carolina. Went to atlanta, and my father was one of 12 kids. Big family. He was the youngest. What happened in his family was his father worked for the railroads. He would get tickets every once in a while. He would allow his sons to go north first and get settle in to get jobs and find a place for the family. Then the family would follow. This was often the case for those who migrated. They would have family members go first. The husband might go first, find a job, find a place to live, then bring his family behind him to join him. It was a plan of action of people following it. This is how it happened in philadelphia. It is how it happened in washington d. C. Where people would stay with family members. This is the family of her name is, i want to make sure i have her name correct. It is mary johnson sprow. She goes to stay with her brother and his family. Initially, her task is to take care of the children. Then she is able to get a job he finds for her in terms of working in washington d. C. At first she does not like that job much. She decides to go back to virginia with her parents. Her parents say, no, youre not doing this. You need to go back and talk with your brother, you need to find a better job. The opportunity for you is in washington d. C. So they sent her back. She goes back with her brother. He eventually gets her a job as a maid in washington d. C. I pointed this because it gives us an illustration of the pattern that people followed in this time period in terms of the migration. That they would go to live with family members connected to other family members and friends as a way of helping to ease their movement into these places. The world they found is a very different one from the one they experienced back in the rural areas. This is part of the challenge she faced. For many of them, while the overall salaries they got in these cities were higher and better than they were able to get in the south, they still did not get access to the better paying high skilled jobs. Most jobs that africanamericans were able to get were on the lower levels of the occupational scale. Most men wound up as laborers, janitors, and women were maids, cooks. They were not the best jobs, but they were jobs. They were steady work. To have a level living of that they cannot have in the south. Living conditions could be overcrowded. They have this influx of africanamericans into these areas so quickly. It put pressure on the Living Conditions in the cities. Places like harlem in new york city, the south side in south philadelphia, and is cleveland in cleveland, ohio, this influx of individuals put pressure on the housing challenges. It is not necessarily a move from difficult times to a great life. But it is a life that is different. What balances these challenges they hit is that there are pluses that come with it. There are new freedoms that they acquire. One of the most important ones is a chance for education for their children. That as you can see from the slide, educational facilities in the south were not good. Thurgood marshall travel to the south in 1930, capturing pictures of what education was like for africanamerican children. It was horrible. In a lower level, it shows education was better and different. At least the chance to get on it and education was there. Most children in the south were lucky to get past six great. If you wanted to go to high school, you had to go somewhere else to get a high school education. In the north, it was more the norm. My own grandmother only got through the sixth grade. You can see how important it was for my grandmother. She only went through the sixth grade, she made sure her children got a College Education after they moved north. That move northward was an important chance to change the dynamic and opportunities available for those individuals. Along with better education, i think it also says that the way you live your life in the north is better as well. That while there were segregation in the north, it was not the same level of segregation not the same level of persecution or oppression that was in the south. The rung look, the rung attitude, too much economic success, could result in repercussions. The chance to live your life more normally was much more available than it was in the south. This going north began to make things better. What it did was give them a Better Living condition and an opportunity to actively participate in the social and political system of the north. Keep in mind, in the north, politicians were interested in your issues. You could be the swing vote difference in terms of being elected or not being elected. You had an importance. This movement changes the dynamic of the relationship within the political parties. Whats going north did was give them a chance to exercise their rights. As one minister said in talking about life in the north, he said the colorblind is not drawn in their faces at every turn as it is in the south. It goes back to a question of manhood and team treated more like a man. While the migration didnt make for a perfect life overall, it made for a more positive living in compared to living in the south. This is true in northern cities. It is also true to a degree in washington d. C. While washington had segregated transportation, it also offered other opportunities in terms of the chance to accomplish more things. As a consequence, what emerged in washington d. C. Was a driving Africanamerican Community. You had organizations owned and controlled by africanamericans. You had places like the theater, you had the hotel all owned by black families. You had places that were really places of affluent, places of progress, places where africanamericans could go and have success. Essentially, moving to washington d. C. Did not make the issues faced by africanamericans go away. It provided them with an improved circumstance. As a better setting in the difficulties they would have face in the south. While moving north did not make for a perfect better life, it did make for life that had chances an opportunity and a direction that could not be accomplished while living in other parts of the south. This is true. Moving from from a rural area to a city setting allowed you to change her life. They did not necessarily result in a major change of peoples advice, especially by washington d. C. The most important thing i talked about my grandmother, is that they felt that this change could mean a difference for the next generation. Even if their lives were not better, the lives of their children would be better and improved. Thats while is that comes in with it, the success of their children was there as well. In the end, isnt that what every parent wants, a better life than their own for their children . Thank you. [applause] questions . Questions please and not statements . [indiscernible] do you think coming back today [indiscernible] prof. Crew do i see a voter restriction law coming back in place . Yes i do. Without a doubt. They are finding new devices to use. You have to have new kinds of identification. It is a way of trying to control the voters. Yes, i do think it is coming back. Thank you very much for your excellent and illuminating presentation. I wanted to ask if you could comment on africanamerican migration from the south to the north [indiscernible] prof. Crew talk about the migration for nonafricanamericans in this country. It is difficult in terms of sharecropping, the difficulties of floods, of all these things. People were beginning to move in large numbers. If you look at the 1930s, it is the same story of people facing these issues. They do not face the things of social and political issues, but economically they do. Sometimes, even in our voting, they are not voting the right way. Yes, sir . Was there a reverse migration . My grandfather came here and the finished medical school in 1909, worked for a couple years and practiced in the louisiana for 40 years. Did many African Americans come to the north to get education then come back to the south . Prof. Crew the question was was there reverse migration . I would not say many, but there were certainly people who chose to do that. The majority dont. You see many more people going back south, because the standard of living is less expensive. If you had a chance to work and get a good retirement, say you work a transit worker in new york city, once you get that time and benefits, you are going to live in the south, that benefit goes further than a dozen new york city. But you are right, there are individuals who go back. That is the norm because he was a doctor, going back as a doctor is different than going back as a laborer. Yes, sir . What was the impact of the economys in the Southern States of all the migrations . That they lost so many people who were laborers and sharecroppers . Prof. Crew i think they suffered from not having keep in mind that even with this change, the majority of people are there. The chart i showed, there were still 70 of the africanamerican population is still in the south. I think it is harder during after world war ii. More and more people make that move. I think the biggest impact is that peoples attitudes begin to change. Part of it is they are participating in the war, they go off to france, they are treated differently by people in europe, they come back and they are not quite as willing to put up with things in the way they had before. One of the reasons you have these riots taking place is people coming back and saying nope, im not accepting this. Black soldiers were getting attacked and lynched because they are wearing the uniform and wearing it with pride. [indiscernible] in alabama, you could see the remnants [indiscernible] prof. Crew in ashland, virginia, where the train station is down there where they have separate and equal train stations. But the fact is the question is, even if equal, there are issues that go with that. That is the whole idea of brown versus board of education. Even if you are equal, you are unequal because you are making commentary about those who are separated from the others. But thank you. Could you comment on whether some people came from the south regretted coming to the north because of drug problems in the urban areas . Prof. Crew you want to know about the drug problem . I dont think it is as prevalent as it is later on. I have not read a lot about that. I have not heard that as a major concern or issue. Thank you for your talk. I was wondering in your research, have you come across urban legends and the north . If so, how prevalent are they . Prof. Crew she asked if i can across any urban lynching in the north . Yes. This was in indiana. It had several. There was also one in minnesota as well. Keep in mind that lynching, under the full definition, is not just a rope. But it is any kind of violence, both perpetuated for the one who was the victim. You have a number of those in the north. It is not just the south. It depends on where you go in the north. Some northern states are better than others. There are some lynchings in the north. Im sorry. Thank you very much for your enlightening presentation. Question, what was the impact on the family unit during the migration . Because they would have been separated from the time they were brought over. Now they are further [indiscernible] did they migrate entire families to chicago or harlem or wherever . Or did some migrate here, some migrate there, so they lost that family unit . Prof. Crew how does the migration impact the family unit . There is no security answer. I talked about the idea of chain migration. What chain migration says is what you are doing is pieces of that family will go and others will follow behind them. I think the most common pattern is individuals will go and bring other members behind them. There are times when others go and you never see them again. A daughter may go in you lose track of her forever. Even in those cases, it allows that member of the family to have a better opportunity in the face of what they are looking at with the life in the south. They are willing to make that sacrifice and lose the connection in the hopes that the person has benefited their life. Yes, sir . [indiscernible] can you address that . Prof. Crew he is asking how the influx of africanamericans has changed the communities in which they moved. In particular, youre talking about harlem and the fact that harlem transitions from largely White Communities to an Africanamerican Community in the course of 10 or 15 years. The plus is you have a cultural renaissance that happens. It happened in other places as well in terms of other people from different geographical locations come together and wants to develop more pride in their culture, and their accomplishments. Also, i think have an impact on the culture of the larger community. We talk about the harlem renaissance, it is different from the negro renaissance. There is a harlem renaissance in chicago, and los angeles, all over the country. It is the coming together of individuals and one place. And seeing what they have in common. And celebrating what they have in common. In talking about it in writing, illustrating it in their art as it Jacob Lawrence does. In music, and in theater. All of those things are the positive things that come with this migration in the coming of together of people from different places. Especially in places like new york, you have people from the caribbean and other places coming together as well. It is creating a different worldview and perspective. The thing about living in the city is that now you are seeing a connection of wider variety of ideas and influences. When you are isolated in a rural area, you are isolated and kept away from other things. It does not create the same sort of synergy as you would in an urban area. Yes . Have you done any work with or shared research with isabel wilkerson, who did that book on the great migration . Prof. Crew i have not done any work with her. I have been to her presentations. I have read her book. I think she has done a wonderful job. My one gripe with her, small gripe, is her position is that hers is the first piece of work. If you are a historian, you have seen this. You have seen it going on for 20 years. The question i asked her is if she had been to the American History museum . She said no. She is from washington d. C. I think the book is wonderful, i think her research is wonderful. Youre doing this stuff but dont pretend like this is the first time this has been discussed. I think she is a good writer and has good investigation. [indiscernible] i have two questions. One, in the maps you showed outlining the great migration and where they went, there is a large area of the northwest where there is none. Would you enlighten us to the reasons for that . Two, you had a photograph of a hotel that you said was a black owned. What was it . Whitlawn . Will you explain about the map . Prof. Crew she asked about the map in terms of going midwest and east. It is because these Great Migrations focus was on northern, midwest, and eastern cities. The migration to the last happens more after world war ii. You see many more in that direction because more of the things is happening on the west coast. It is a matter of time before anything else. Yes, maam . Could you talk about the influence of the black church during the great migration . And also about the kind of segregation that the southerns faced when they went to cities like chicago and st. Louis . Some of which we are seeing now, things like ferguson, you will know. Prof. Crew to the black church, it goes without saying. I think you are right to point to that. It is a condiment for so much information. In terms of homecomings, for people gathering and coming back, often times, it was an important task for migrants who try to find places they felt comfortable. What is interesting about the migration is it changes northern black churches in terms of how they operate any services they have. One would argue that many northern black churches were much more straightlaced, prior to the great migration. Afterwards, as more migrants came and wanted more emotional services, it forced northern black churches to reorient themselves if they wanted to get congregants and stay large and thriving. That migration helped to spread the baptists, and others like that as more and more southerners come northward. It was an important source of information, of supplies, when people need a place to get food endorsement. And also making connections in terms of places and people within the community. Does that help . Yes. The kinds of segregation they faced once they moved north. Prof. Crew i am not sure of segregation is the right word. It could be the kinds of treatment they received within the Africanamerican Community. There was some concern that these newcomers were owing to change the way that they were perceived by the larger society. They were very concerned about their coming and how they presented themselves. One of the things i read was this interesting poster that was created by the Chicago Urban League and it was a dos and dont poster. One of the dos, dont make a lot of noise. It would show one noisy and the other one was sitting very sedately. The proper way is to be quiet and sedate. That was the kind of issue that people faced. You have heard the term, being a bama. It means you are from alabama. They dont conduct themselves the way they do. Harvard university has a problem as well. We have not talked about the issue of culler, colored town and who is acceptable and what is not acceptable. All of these dynamics are going on and impacted by the migration. The changes that whole interplay within the Africanamerican Community. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you all for being here. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] this weekend on american 6 00, the final military maneuvers that led to Robert E Lees surrender. All of the skirmishing daytoday, all of these dramatic fights right up to the last morning breakout attempt by john gordon at appomattox and they are full of high drama. Emotions are running high. The union is out for blood. They sense that this is the and game. Lee will not quit and long street doesnt want to quit. The army is crumbling around them. History, thes in coal miners strike and massacre. Questions of actually what happened, there is an exchange of gunfire on both sides. Day, thed of the National Guard in order to stop the fighting decide to pour kerosene on the 10th colony unlike fire. Artifacts, the american treasures exhibit at the National Constitution center. Wilson saw that the articles of confederation were too weak and wanted a stronger Central Government and a strong president elected the people. We the people were sovereign, not the people of each state and the parliament itself as in britain. Weekend,ekend, every only on cspan3. Hampshireat the new statehouse where we are learning more about the history. This is not the only building important to politics. We visit the host of arnie arneson. What is new
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