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Moving North
What do you know about the
Great Migration?
Background• In 1910 there are 8 million African-Americans in the US,
7 million live in the South. Over the next 15 years, 10% will move north
What reasons can you think of that might motivate
African-Americans to leave the South?
Push Factors
• Boll weevil infestation begins in 1892
• Cotton crops devastated
• Thousands of agricultural workers lose their jobs and farms
• Sharecroppers become deeper in debt to plantation owners
• Lower wages, few economic opportunities
• Violence and segregation become facts of life “Jim Crow”
Lynching becomes more common in
the South
From 1892-1917, over 3000 African-Americans were lynched, mostly in the South Victims were:•Hanged•Shot•Burned•Castrated•Maimed•Dismembered•Beheaded
What does this newspaper tell you about lynching in
the South?
Pull Factors
• WWI begins in 1914, severely slowing European immigration to America
• Northern factories increase production to supply Allied Powers leading to increased demand for workers
• When American enters the war, Whites leave factories for military service, further increasing demand
• To fill the need for workers, Northern factory and railroad owners began recruiting Southern Blacks • In many cases, Blacks
are willing to work for less than Whites (but still more than they can make in the South)
Why Chicago?
• Weekly paper founded in 1905 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott for African-American readers
• Published editorials, articles and cartoons lauding the benefits of the North
• Posted job listings and train schedules to facilitate relocation
• Never used the words “Negro” or “black”; used “the Race” instead
Distribution of the Chicago Defender
Circulating the Defender
• Two-thirds of Defender’s readership outside of Chicago
• Brought by train by Black Pullman porters and rail workers
• Read aloud in churches, restaurants, and barbershops for those who could not read
• Each paper was read and passed on by 4-5 different people
Southern Opposition• Southern leaders
fought to keep their politically powerless labor force
• Warned Blacks of harsh city life and deadly winters
• Feared loss of political power with population loss (and Northern gain)
A Migrant’s Story
• Create a 1st-person narrative about the Great Migration
• Create a character from the South who has decided to move north.
• Use the source material in the provided packet.
• Your story must include the reasons why you are leaving and why you are going to Chicago