Coming Home: Black Return Migration to the Yazoo -Mississippi Delta. Robert Norman Brown II Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2001 Coming Home: Black Return Migration to the Yazoo -Mississippi Delta. Robert Norman Brown II Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Brown, Robert Norman II, "Coming Home: Black Return Migration to the Yazoo -Mississippi Delta." (2001). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 266. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/266 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. COMING HOME: BLACK RETURN MIGRATION TO THE YAZOO-MISSISSIPPI DELTA A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by Robert Norman Brown, II A.B., University of Georgia, 1987 M.A., Appalachian State University, 1990 May 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3016529 ____ <g> UMI UMI Microform 3016529 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I dedicate this work to my wife Kathryn Vaughn Brown. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank the faculty and staff of the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University. In particular, I owe an enormous debt to my advisor, Dr. Miles E. Richardson, whose academic guidance and encouragement served me immeasurably. As a scholar, writer, and teacher, his example is unparalleled. I also want to thank Dr. William V. Davidson and the rest of my dissertation committee: Dr. Carville Earle, Dr. Joyce Jackson, Dr. Gaines Foster, and Dr. Steven Hoelscher. Dr. Hoelscher’s comments in the early stages of this project were insightful and inspiring. I want to thank also Dr. John Cromartie of the United States Department of Agriculture, whose expertise in spatial demography and data extraction gave this project invaluable support. I owe thanks also to my friends at Delta State University who offered me material support, release time, and a spirit of collegiality and scholarship. I reserve my deepest thanks for my wife Kathy. Without her assistance as editor, advisor, and software specialist, I would have been lost. Kathy and our sons, Christopher Miles, and Andrew Seward, helped me in this project in ways I cannot express. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION...........................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................................vi ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 1 2 UNDERSTANDING THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN DIASPORA THROUGH MIGRATION LITERATURE.................................................... 13 Considering Migration Theory .....................................................................13 Historical Geography o f the Great Black Migration.................................27 Theoretical Frameworks of the Great Black Migration ............................ 31 Art and Literature of the Great Black Migration ....................................... 45 The Tide Turns: Black Return Migration to the South..............................61 3 RETURNING TO SOMETHING FAMILIAR: SENSE OF PLACE IN THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA...................................................................................... 76 Physical Geography of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta................................79 Historical Geography of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta..............................83 Sense of Place in the Delta .........................................................................120 Conclusion ...................................................................................................126 4 COUNTING RETURN MIGRANTS AND FINDING MEANING IN THEIR STORIES: A DISCUSSION OF METHOD AND THE DATA .. 128 Using PUMS Data to Count Return Migrants .......................................... 128 The Myth Teller.......................................................................................... 141 Matrifocality and Black Return Migration to the Mississippi Delta 145 5 MY HOME IS IN THE DELTA: THE INFORMANTS.............................153 Conclusion ...................................................................................................243 6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 246 REFERENCE LIST...............................................................................................................255 VITA.......................................................................................................................................264 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES 1. Net Out-Migration from the Thirteen State South, 1910-1960 .................................... 29 2. Black Migration to the South from Selected Regions (In Thousands), 1965-1990.... 61 3. Net African American Migration for Selected SMS As, 1965-70 and 1975-80 ..........69 4. Weighted PUMS Data for Yazoo-Mississippi Delta PUMAS, 1985-1990............. 137 5. Household Structure of Black Return Migration, Household 1 ................................... 147 6. Household Structure of Black Return Migration, Household 2 ................................... 148 7. Household Structure of Black Return Migration, Household 3 ................................... 149 8. Household Structure of Black Return Migration, Household 4 ................................... 150 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES 1. Dance floor at Po’ Monkey's Lounge .................................................................................. 4 2. Robert Johnson.................................................................................................................. 48 3. “Ihey Were Very Poof....................................................................................................... 57 4. “And the Migrants Kept Coming’.......................................................................................57 5. The Yazoo-Mississippi Delta............................................................................................77 6. Mississippi Delta Landscape........................................................................................... 80 7. The Bouge Phalia River, Bolivar County, Mississippi..................................................88