HARLEM RENAISSANCE:

The Great Migration and Life in the Inner

Cities

THE GREAT MIGRATION BY

CLARENCE ROWE

Clarence Rowe, “The Great Migration,” Teaching & Learning Cleveland , accessed October 17, 2012, http://csudigitalhumanities.org/exhibits

Letter to the Editor: “Fellow Negroes of the South, leave there. Go

North, East, and West—anywhere—to get out of that hell hole. There are better schools here for your children, higher wages for yourselves, votes if you are twenty-one, better housing and more liberty. All is not rosy here, by any means, but it is Paradise compared with Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. Besides, you make it better for those you leave behind. Labor becomes scarce, so that the Bourbons of Dixie* are compelled to pay your brothers back home more wages. They will give them more schools and privileges, too, to try to get them to come back and, secondly, to try to keep you from leaving. Stop buying property in the South, to be burned down and run away from over night. Sell out your stuff quietly, saying nothing to the Negro lackeys, and leave! Come into the land of at least incipient civilization!”

The Messenger, March 1920

Black publications continued to encourage migration after WWI, as is evident in this 1920 editorial from the Messenger, which link s Migration to better opportunities fro both migrants and those who stay in the South. It also hints at hardships in the North. Such hardships may have been responsible for the resurrection of emigration movements in the 1920s– most famously, Marcus Garvey’s Back to African campaign- as new migrants discovered that the South did not hold a monopoly on racism and economic hardship.

The Great Migration

The relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from 1916 to 1970, had a huge impact on urban life in the United States.

“Fellow Negroes of the

South, leave there. Go

North, East, and West—

anywhere—to get out of that

hell hole.”

WHY?Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that first arose during the First World War.

“The South” by Langston HughesThe lazy, laughing SouthWith blood on its mouth.The sunny-faced South, Beast-strong, Idiot-brained.The child-minded SouthScratching in the dead fire's ashesFor a Negro's bones. Cotton and the moon, Warmth, earth, warmth, The sky, the sun, the stars, The magnolia-scented South.Beautiful, like a woman,Seductive as a dark-eyed whore, Passionate, cruel, Honey-lipped, syphilitic-- That is the South.And I, who am black, would love herBut she spits in my face.And I, who am black,Would give her many rare giftsBut she turns her back upon me. So now I seek the North-- The cold-faced North, For she, they say, Is a kinder mistress,And in her house my childrenMay escape the spell of the South.

Great Migration

During the Great Migration, African Americans began to build a new place for themselves in public life, actively confronting economic, political and social challenges and creating a new black urban culture that would exert enormous influence in the decades to come.

“Armistice Day, Lenox Ave. 4 west 134th street, Harlem 1919”

The “New Negro”

• African Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage and to become "The New Negro," a term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain LeRoy Locke in his influential book of the same name.

• "For the younger generation," Alain Locke wrote in 1925, "is vibrant with a new psychology." This new spirit he described as basically a renewal of "self-respect and self-dependence."

Alain Locke’s “New Negro” Movement

• African Americans were encouraged to celebrate their heritage and to become "The New Negro," a term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain LeRoy Locke in his influential book of the same name.

• "For the younger generation," Alain Locke wrote in 1925, "is vibrant with a new psychology." This new spirit he described as basically a renewal of "self-respect and self-dependence.“

• This movement promoted a renewed

sense of racial pride, cultural self-expression, economic independence, and progressive politics.

I, too, Sing America by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dareSay to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.

Living Spaces in the CitiesChicago, New York and other cities saw their black populations expand exponentially, migrants were forced to deal with poor working conditions and competition for living space, as well as widespread racism and prejudice.

Madam and the Rent Manby Langston Hughes (1943)

The rent man knocked. He said, Howdy-do? I said, WhatCan I do for you? He said, You knowYour rent is due.

I said, Listen, Before I'd payI'd go to Hades And rot away!

The sink is broke, The water don't run, And you ain't done a thingYou promised to've done.

Back window's cracked, Kitchen floor squeaks, There's rats in the cellar, And the attic leaks.

He said, Madam, It's not up to me. I'm just the agent, Don't you see?

I said, Naturally, You pass the buck. If it's money you wantYou're out of luck.

He said, Madam, I ain't pleased! I said, Neither am I. So we agrees!

Harlem by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

FINAL QUESTIONS: