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Toolbox Library, primary resources thematically organized with notes and discussion questionsOnline Seminars, professional development seminars for history and literature teachersThe Making of African American Identity: Volume III, 1917-1968
The Making of African American Identity: Volume III, 1917-1968
Theme: SegregationTheme: MigrationsTheme: ProtestTheme: CommunityTheme: Overcome?
Migrations Menu

MIGRATIONS





Framing Questions
  •  What migrations did African Americans undertake in the twentieth century?
  •  What were the effects of these migrations?
African American family on its arrival in Chicago, 1922
 



1.  Leaving, 1920» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Emmett J. Scott, Negro Migration during the War, 1920, Ch. 3-4

2.  Writing for Help» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Emmett J. Scott, ed., "Letters of Negro Migrants, 1916-1918," The Journal of Negro History, July & October 1919

3.  The Chicago Riots» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Walter White, "N.A.A.C.P.—Chicago and Its Eight Reasons," The Crisis, October 1919
- Charles Johnson, Chicago Commission on Race Relations, The Negro in Chicago, 1922, excerpts

4.  Promised Land?» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Rudolph Fisher, "The City of Refuge," short story, Atlantic Monthly, February 1925
- William H. Johnson, Moon over Harlem, oil on plywood, ca. 1943-1944

5.  The Blues» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Bessie Smith, "Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do," recorded in 1922
- Eddie "Son" House, "Dry Spell Blues," recorded in 1930

6.  Old Timers, Newcomers» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Leslie Rogers, "People We Can Get Along Without," cartoon, Chicago Defender, 9 July 1921
- "Where We Are Lacking" & "Some Don'ts," Chicago Defender, 17 May 1919

7.  Leaving But Staying» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Walter Cavers and Willie Harrell, interviews, Behind the Veil Project, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University

8.  New Consciousness» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Alain Locke, "Enter the New Negro," essay, Survey Graphic, March 1925

9.  New Art» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Aaron Douglas, Song of the Towers, in mural series Aspects of Negro Life, 1934

10.  Painting the Migration» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Jacob Lawrence, The Migration of the Negro, series of sixty paintings, casein tempera on hardboard, 1940-41

11.  Leaving, 1960» Text Links / Note / Discussion Questions

- Alice Walker, "Roselily," short story, ca. 1967



Image: African American family on its arrival in Chicago from the rural South, photograph, 1922. Reproduced by permission of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.



MIGRATIONS
1. Leaving, 1920   2. Writing for Help   3. The Chicago Riots   4. Promised Land?
  5. The Blues   6. Old Timers, Newcomers   7. Leaving But Staying
8. New Consciousness   9. New Art   10. Painting the Migration   11. Leaving, 1960








TOOLBOX: The Making of African American Identity: Volume III, 1917-1968
Segregation | Migrations | Protest | Community | Overcome?


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