Defining Moments The GREAT MIGRATION NORTH, 1910-1970
Laurie Lanzen Harris
155 W. Congress, Suite 200 Detroit, MI 48226
Table of Contents
Preface ...... ix How to Use This Book ...... xiii Research Topics for Defining Moments: The Great Migration North ...... xv
NARRATIVE OVERVIEW Prologue ...... 3 Chapter One: Becoming African American ...... 7 Chapter Two: The First Great Migration ...... 25 Chapter Three: The Second Great Migration ...... 49 Chapter Four: The Civil Rights Movement ...... 69 Chapter Five: The “Return” Migration ...... 89 Chapter Six: The Legacy of the Great Migration ...... 101
BIOGRAPHIES Robert S. Abbott (1870-1940) ...... 117 Newspaper Publisher, Founder, and Editor of the Chicago Defender Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) ...... 122 Educator and Civil Rights Activist Tom Bradley (1917-1998) ...... 126 Politician and First Black Mayor of Los Angeles W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) ...... 129 Scholar, Historian, and Civil Rights Leader
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Defining Moments: The Great Migration North, 1910-1970
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) ...... 135 Jamaican Black Nationalist and Founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) ...... 139 Playwright and Author of A Raisin in the Sun Langston Hughes (1902-1967) ...... 144 Poet, Short Story Writer, and Playwright of the Harlem Renaissance Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) ...... 147 Civil Rights Leader and President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) ...... 153 Creator of The Migration and Other Artistic Works about the African-American Experience A. Philip Randolph (1889-1979) ...... 157 Labor and Civil Rights Leader Malcolm X (1925-1965) ...... 162 Political and Religious Leader and Civil Rights Activist
PRIMARY SOURCES The Chicago Defender Reports on Lynchings in the Jim Crow South . . . . .169 The Massacre of East St. Louis ...... 171 The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 ...... 174 African Americans Praise Life in the North ...... 181 Langston Hughes Remembers the Harlem Renaissance ...... 186 President Roosevelt Signs the Fair Employment Act ...... 189 An Eyewitness Account of the 1943 Race Riot in Detroit ...... 191 President Truman Integrates the American Military ...... 195 An African-American Migrant Builds a New Life in the North ...... 197 The Kerner Report Analyzes the Root Causes of Racial Tensions in America ...... 203 vi
Table of Contents
Reasons for the “Return Migration” to the South ...... 208 The Great Migration and Its Enduring Impact on America ...... 211
Important People, Places, and Terms ...... 217 Chronology ...... 223 Sources for Further Study ...... 229 Bibliography ...... 231 Photo and Illustration Credits ...... 233 Index ...... 235
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