Panel 60; The Great Migration Series
". . . the bravery, the courage, the kind of hutzpah of these folks to say, 'I'm leaving that behind. I'm in search of a better life.'"
~ Kinshasha Conwill, The Great Migration Series
After Reconstruction in the south, blacks still lived in communities which kept them from advancing economically, socially, and politically. Additionally, the KKK advocated for white supremacy, promoting violence against blacks. Furthermore, whites had advantages in job selection, forcing blacks to become manual laborers, continuing a cycle of poverty.
"Dear Sirs: I am enclosing a clipping of a lynching again which speaks for itself. I do wish there could be sufficient presure brought about to have federal investigation of such work. I wrote you a few days ago if you could furnish me with the addresses of some firms or co-opporations that needed common labor. So many of our people here are almost starving. The government is feeding quite a number here would go any where to better their conditions. If you can do any thing for us write me as early as posible." ~ Migrant Letter, 1917 [sic.], Library of Congress
Field Worker; Smithsonian Art Museum
Migrant Family; The Great Migration Series
Factories were booming in the North, creating many job openings offering roughly three times the salary down South. With many white men fighting in WWI, African Americans seized the opportunity of a better life. This northward movement of people was called the Great Migration. Cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City filled with eager African Americans, doubling the original black population.
Panel 23; The Great Migration Series.
"It wasn't all happiness, it wasn't all peace. There was struggle, and I would say that through this struggle developed a certain kind of beauty. The blacks moved from the lynchings that took place in the South to the riots that took place in the North. There was contention, there was one group becoming involved with another group." ~ Jacob Lawrence, The Great Migration Series
Cotton-Picking; The Library of Congress.