Moving North to Chicago
A Black Perspective on American Agriculture
One of the most important themes studied in this agricultural history course was the migration of farmers to urban areas. Urban life had many benefits for rural people, including economic stability, job opportunities, and an improved, more materialistic lifestyle. This change not only affected white Americans, but blacks as well. The Great Migration, or the migration of Black Americans to northern cities, was one of the most important movements in U.S. History. The migration took place from 1900-1945, but specifically around the time of World War I. Many media sources were created depicting this focal event, one of these being the documentary “Moving North to Chicago: The Great Black Migration.” This film describes the movement of Black Americans from the South to the North, using Chicago as a landmark. Black Americans faced many issues during this migration, but they impacted Chicago in significant ways.
This documentary had several influences on the director, Felice McGlincy. McGlincy has created several documentaries on both minorities’ roles in American history and issues in the Midwest. For example, he has examined the Chinese-American influence on society, as well as the many cultures of the Midwest in “Clash of Cultures on the Great Plains.” Therefore, since The Great Black Migration involved both racial minorities and new cultures in Chicago, I believe that Felice McGlincy thought it was a perfect opportunity to show this event to America through a documentary.
“Moving North to Chicago” begins with the story of Louis Travis, a Southern Black worker searching for a lifestyle change. At age 18, an excited Travis traveled to Chicago from his hometown of Georgia and never looked back. Chicago was a center of industry and trade, but originally, blacks only consisted of 2% of the population. However, inadequate living conditions in the South caused them to rethink their lifestyles. Racial violence, poor housing, segregation, decreasing job opportunities, and limited access for Blacks in the South created uncomfortable standards. The common saying was “No schools, no justice, no jobs.”
This is when The Great Migration began. Millions of Blacks moved to the urban North in search of a better life. Many continued to live in poor neighborhoods, but the major difference was that there was hope in Chicago. Jobs were numerous, such as factory and railroad work, and continued to be plentiful into World War I, when there was a high demand for labor. The Black newspaper, The Chicago Daily Defender, depicted the prosperous lifestyles of those in the North in an effort to bring blacks to Chicago. However, as the number of migrating Blacks increased, tensions arose in Chicago. Housing became extremely limited, and violence occurred as a result. Racism and segregation were present, and many blacks died in riots over housing. But they still traveled to Chicago, because to them, anything was better than Southern agriculture.
The Black Migration had a huge impact on Chicago culture. Blacks brought food, music, religion, and all other aspects of their culture with them. Churches remained an important part of daily life, sustaining them through good times and bad. They truly changed the look and sounds of Chicago. The Great Black Migration continued for 30 years, ending in the 1970’s. More than 7 million Blacks had migrated North, and clearly, Chicago has been a different city ever since.
Several popular sources support this film and its themes. David B. Danbom’s book and “The Promised Land” set up background information and put the migration in perspective. The migration occurred during the golden age of agriculture, when agriculture was most prosperous. One important reason for the move was to reunite with families. After the Civil War, many Blacks traveled north, and those that had stayed behind now searched for long lost kin. Also, there was continuous encouragement from the North for blacks to continue migrating, mainly to fill job openings. A man named Uless Carter was one of the migrants to Chicago’s south side. A series of pictures was taken in different periods of Carter’s life, one when he was a Southern worker in a cotton field, looking solemn and unhappy. The next pictures showed Carter when he first moved to Chicago, smiling confidently and wearing fine clothes. An important statement from “The Promise Land” sums up the satisfaction of migrating blacks: “What made the South Side look so good to Uless, and to most of the other migrants moving there, was the comparison to the South: money and dignity were indisputably in greater supply in Chicago than in the Delta.”
At the time of the actual event, mixed messages were abound. Some observers commented on how the South was reacting to the migration. An article from the Chicago Tribune from 1923 explained the factors that caused the migration, including a lack of industrialization in the South, the destruction of cotton by insects, and inefficient agricultural practices. "The South is the negro's natural abiding place," the article states. "But the old roots have been torn up. It is southern climate against northern opportunities." This gives a different perspective on the migration, one that focuses on what the migrating blacks were leaving behind in the South. It complements Felice McGlincy's documentary in that Southern life just did not compare to the many temptations northern life offered.
A comprehensive study of blacks in Chicago was also created in 1916, describing all aspects of day-to-day life, including jobs, housing conditions, politics and musical traditions of blacks. Many statistics are shown demonstrating the prosperous jobs available to blacks, and the high percentages of blacks who own homes. Also, schools were now available to black children, and attendance rates were high. In fact, the presence of schools for blacks was a big factor in the migration. In general, blacks were more involved in all aspects of society in the north, including business, politics, economics, and culture.
The Great Black Migration was clearly a significant event in American history. Countless media sources have been created depicting all aspects of the migration. "Moving North to Chicago" provides great detail about the migration itself, black lifestyles in the north, and how Chicago was affected by the migration. The documentary gives us a good overview and a starting point in order to find out specifics of the migration. Other sources examine individuals in the process, such as Uless Carter, as well as surveys and statistics of black life. Each source portrays the migration accurately, but in different ways. From looking at several different sources, one can gain a true and complete understanding of The Great Black Migration, and thus gain in-depth knowledge of an important event in agricultural history.
References
McGlincy, Felice, dir. Moving North to Chicago. 1991. Videorecording. Films for the Humanities and Science, 1991.
Danbom, David B. Born in the Country: A History of Rural America. 2nd. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration. 1st. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, 1991.
Evans, Arthur. Black Migration May Make Myth of 'Solid South'. Chicago Daily Tribune 12 Sep 1923: 13.
Wood, Junius B. The Negro in Chicago. 1st. Chicago: The Chicago Daily News, 1916.
~Jennifer Menning, Crystal Lake, IL
