The Great Migration: How 6 Million African-Americans Escaped Jim Crow

Summary

The Great Migration is a pivotal yet often overlooked chapter in American history, highlighting the journey of 6 million African-Americans from the oppressive Southern states to the North and West from 1915 to 1975. This mass movement was not just a relocation but a transformation of American culture, politics, and economy. It laid the groundwork for significant cultural and social advancements, including the Civil Rights Movement and ongoing struggles for racial equality, symbolized in the modern era by movements such as Black Lives Matter. The migration's legacy is evident in every aspect of American life, from politics and education to cultural expressions like music and literature.

Highlights

• 6 million African-Americans fled Jim Crow South from 1915 to 1975. 🚀
• The migration laid the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement. ✊
• Major cities like Chicago and Detroit transformed with new culture. 🎷
• Key figures emerged: Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and more. 🌟
• Black culture, like Motown and jazz, reshaped American music. 🎵
• Persistent racial challenges despite migration North. 🚫
• Media like the Chicago Defender catalyzed the movement. 📰
• Historical migration influences modern movements like BLM. ✊

Key Takeaways

• The Great Migration transformed American culture and politics. 🌍
• 6 million African-Americans moved from the South to North and West between 1915-1975. 🚂
• This migration set the stage for the Civil Rights Movement. ✊
• It spurred cultural revolutions in music, literature, and civil rights. 🎶
• Figures like Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson emerged due to this movement. 🏆
• The migration highlighted systemic racial injustices still relevant today. ⚖️
• Chicago Defender played a crucial role in guiding migrants. 🗞️
• The legacy continues to influence societal norms and racial dynamics. 🌟

Overview

The Great Migration saw 6 million African-Americans leaving the Jim Crow South for the North and West between 1915 and 1975. This massive relocation not only altered the demographic landscape of America but also ignited pivotal movements for racial equality. From booming cities like Chicago and Detroit to the transformative figures such as Barack Obama and Jesse Owens, this movement paved the way for an enriched cultural and political tapestry.

Throughout the years, the migration spurred vast cultural, social, and political changes, leading to cultural renaissances in Chicago and Harlem, and the birth of iconic sounds like Motown. Yet, the journey was fraught with challenges, exposing systemic racial inequalities that persistently influenced the budding Civil Rights Movement. As history repeated its calls for justice and equality, one could see the threads tying past struggles with today's social justice movements.

As we look back on the Great Migration, its enduring legacy prevails in the stories of resilience and courage among African-Americans. This historical movement was not just about escaping oppression, but about crafting a new narrative of hope and opportunity—a narrative that continues to inspire generations. The migration has left an indelible mark on the American cultural and political landscape, subtly echoing through modern movements like Black Lives Matter.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction to the Great Migration The introduction to the chapter "Introduction to the Great Migration" emphasizes the significance of the Great Migration in American history, noting that it is often overlooked despite its massive impact. It began with 6 million African-Americans moving from southern states to the north and west over 60 years. This migration significantly transformed the socio-political and cultural landscape of America.
• 01:00 - 02:30: Cultural Impact and Continued Influence The chapter titled 'Cultural Impact and Continued Influence' delves into the significant cultural, social, and political advancements that have resulted from pivotal movements such as the Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter. It highlights the enduring influence of the Great Migration on various aspects of American life, including food, lifestyle, fashion, recreation, and worship. The chapter underscores the profound impact of these historical events on shaping modern America and briefly mentions the contributions of 44 presidents and 800 homes in the narrative.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Transformation and Historical Figures The chapter explores the profound era of The Great Migration, focusing on the experiences of four frightened teenagers among the six million African-Americans who embarked on this monumental journey. It delves into the hopes, fears, and dreams that motivated these individuals to risk everything in search of a better future.
• 04:00 - 05:30: The Role of Newspapers and Media The chapter titled 'The Role of Newspapers and Media' discusses the Great Migration, a significant movement of African-American people from the US South to northern and western regions of the country. This migration had a profound impact, transforming the physical and cultural landscapes of American life. The role of newspapers and media during this period is implied to be pivotal in disseminating information and possibly influencing public perception and decisions related to the migration.
• 05:30 - 07:00: Laws, Amendments, and Civil Rights The chapter discusses the mass migration of individuals between 1915 and 1975, also known as the Great Migration. It highlights the courageous stories of over 6 million individuals who left their homes in search of better opportunities. These people traveled along the railroads, heading north along the East Coast, west to California, and through the Mississippi Valley to cities like Chicago, which was considered 'the Promised Land'. The chapter briefly touches upon the significance of the number 44, though its context is not fully revealed in the provided text.
• 07:00 - 08:30: Violence, Lynching and Resistance 'Violence, Lynching, and Resistance' explores the profound impacts of the Great Migration, exemplified by Chicago's Bud Billiken Parade. This parade, the largest African-American parade in the U.S., showcases African American youth and culture, attracting over a million spectators. It represents a vibrant celebration of black excellence, featuring music, dance, and community pride, running for nearly a century as a testament to enduring cultural resilience and the rich tapestry of African-American history.
• 08:30 - 10:00: The Exodus and Northern Challenges The chapter 'The Exodus and Northern Challenges' discusses the demographic and cultural shifts resulting from the Great Migration. Over a century ago, Chicago had a relatively small African-American population, numbering just over 44,000, which was less than 3% of the city's populace at the time. Today, this number has grown to approximately 800,000. The text highlights the political significance of this community, illustrated by actions of prominent figures like a young Senator Barack Obama, who was active in engaging with the community at events such as the Bud Billiken Parade, a key location for political networking and outreach in Chicago.
• 10:00 - 11:30: Significant Cultural Figures and Movements The chapter discusses the importance of gaining endorsements from significant cultural figures and movements, particularly focusing on Barack Obama. It highlights his participation in Chicago's Bud Billiken Parade as a strategic move to garner support from both the local black community and the wider American populace. This event is marked as a pivotal moment in his successful campaign to become the 44th President of the United States.
• 11:30 - 13:00: Sports and Breaking Barriers The chapter discusses the significance of breaking barriers in sports, with a focus on the achievements of African-American individuals. It highlights the broader social changes during the Great Migration when African-American populations moved from the south to northern and western cities in the United States. By the 1970s, these migrations had led to significant demographic shifts, and the achievements in sports became symbolic of wider societal progress.
• 13:00 - 14:30: Political Mobilization and Voting Rights This chapter discusses the impact of the Great Migration on American politics and society, emphasizing its foundational role in the progress of black people in the United States. The narrative connects this historical movement to the eventual election of Barack Obama, highlighting the transformation it initiated within American political and social dynamics. The chapter suggests that this transformation began with modest beginnings but led to significant progress, culminating in the election of the 44th president, Barack Obama.
• 14:30 - 16:00: Civil Rights Movements and Lasting Change The chapter opens in Chicago in 1905, focusing on Robert S. Abbott, who faces significant racial discrimination and obstacles in his pursuit of a legal career. After failing to establish himself as a lawyer and being denied other opportunities in favor of white European immigrants, Abbott experiences severe hardship. In a particularly poignant moment, even in a church's breadline, he is told to wait behind white individuals, illustrating the systemic racism of the time. Despite these challenges, the chapter sets the stage for Abbott's persistent struggle against racial barriers.
• 16:00 - 17:30: Summary: The Legacy of the Great Migration The chapter titled "The Legacy of the Great Migration" discusses the beginning of the Chicago Defender newspaper. It highlights the founder, who, despite being down to his last 25 cents, gambled everything on his idea. With just a pencil and a notepad, he began at his landlady's kitchen table, creating a four-page newspaper. The initial print run was 300 copies, and he sold them door-to-door in Chicago's Southside, as well as in barber shops and churches, for 2 cents each.

The Great Migration: How 6 Million African-Americans Escaped Jim Crow Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] it's one of the most overlooked stories of American history and it features one very big number 6 million 6 million 6 million that's the number of African-Americans who took part in the Great Migration over the course of 60 years they moved from the southern states to the north and west and by doing so they transformed the face of America it really changed the whole notion of our
• 00:30 - 01:00 nation from every it led to some of the greatest cultural social and political progress from the Civil Rights Movement to Black lives matter from politics to Sport and music The Great Migration continues to influence all our lives when we think about the way we eat live dress play Worship in America so much of that is a product of the Great Migration this is the story of 44 presid residents of the United States 800 home
• 01:00 - 01:30 runs four frightened teenagers and the hopes fears and dreams of six million African-Americans who risked everything to take part in The Great Migration [Music]
• 01:30 - 02:00 [Applause] Great Migration is this massive Exodus of African-American people from the US South to the North and the West that transformed the literal landscape of American Life
• 02:00 - 02:30 it's a collection of 6 million plus individual experiences individual courageous stories between 1915 and 1975 they followed the railroads up the East Coast West to California and along the Mississippi Valley to cities like Chicago the promised land that's how the north was thought of and one of the promises that was kept is the number 44 a small number that Reve RS the
• 02:30 - 03:00 far-reaching consequences of the Great Migration Chicago's Bud vilin parade is a celebration of African American Youth and culture watched by over 1 million people it's the largest African-American parade in the country the bud bicin parade is the celebration that goes up and down the spine of the black community Chicago it's song it's dance it's public displays of black excellence and community and it happens every year for nearly a cent Century because of the
• 03:00 - 03:30 Great Migration 100 years ago the African-American population of Chicago numbered just 44,1 103 or less than 3% of the city's total population today that number is more like 800,000 if you're an aspiring politician the bud bicin parade is where you come to shake as many hands as you possibly can in 2007 Barack Obama was this young Senator B in Chicago and he understood
• 03:30 - 04:00 to gain the endorsement not just of Chicago's black community but also like America he has to receive the official nod at the bud bilican parade the parade marks the start of his successful bid to become president of the United States when we think about the number 44 and Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the United States
• 04:00 - 04:30 it's amazing that we have this African-American first it's an American first that's possible because Chicago isn't unique what happens here is repeated in cities across the United States at the start of the 20th century 90% of African-Americans live in the south but in the cities of the north and west African-American populations increase as a direct result of the Great Migration until by the 1970s
• 04:30 - 05:00 47% live in the North I can't imagine a Barack Obama in 2008 without a great migration I think the Great Migration is absolutely foundational to our understanding of progress for black people in this nation so how and why does such a transformation of American politics and Society occur it culminates with a 44 but begins with a four
• 05:00 - 05:30 it's Chicago 1905 and Robert sstack Abbott is running out of options he came to Chicago to be a lawyer couldn't do well couldn't establish a clientele so he applies for other jobs and is passed over for white European immigrants when he's desperate and hungry and in a Church's breadline he's told to stand aside for the white guy struggled to gain a foothold he kept hitting roblocks people said he was too
• 05:30 - 06:00 dark down to his last 25 cents he gambles it all on one big idea a pencil and a notepad he is at his land lady's kitchen table he set down and he put together a four-page newspaper that would become the Chicago Defender it starts with a print run of just 300 copies he goes door too in Chicago's Southside selling his newspaper in in barber shops and churches for 2 cents a
• 06:00 - 06:30 copy and the Chicago Defender becomes an instant hit there were other African-American papers in Chicago at the time his paper was just one of many but what he did that distinguished him was he understood the power of talking about progress for African-Americans and equality for African-Americans the Chicago Defender is the most significant African-American newspaper and I would argue the most significant piece of Journalism in the history three of the
• 06:30 - 07:00 American Press within a decade the Chicago Defender becomes the biggest selling African-American newspaper in the entire country selling over 100,000 copies it's estimated that every weekly Edition is passed on to five readers making a total readership of over half a million 50% of whom aren't even in Chicago the Chicago Defender becomes the vehicle the organ the voice of beckoning African-Americans to come from south to
• 07:00 - 07:30 North barbert Abbot started to say come to Chicago Chicago is the best place in the world he talked about all the jobs all the opportunities he talked about the ways in which you could advance and have education for your children when people wanted to understand life in the north they would have a young person sit in a community of Elders who might not have access to literacy and they would read the paper to the community this newspaper paper from a big city created
• 07:30 - 08:00 an excitement and engendered a thought that oh I can make life better the paper is wildly successful and is read all over the United States in some ways it operates like social media operates today the Chicago Defender becomes a catalst for the first wave of the great migration in the first half of the 20th century because suddenly every African-American family in the South has a choice to make stay or go black people don't
• 08:00 - 08:30 randomly choose to leave the South during the Great Migration they move through what we call push factors and pull factors in this first wave many will be pushed from the south by the legacy of broken promises of the Civil War including the number 40 a slippery and treacherous number for nearly 2 and a half centuries after the coming of European settlers slavery had been at the heart of the plantation economy of the southern
• 08:30 - 09:00 states by the middle of the 19th century close to 4 million African-Americans were enslaved representing 13% of the entire population of the United States the market value of slaves in the US exceeded that of banks factories and railroads combined but with the defeat of the southern states in the Civil War slavery was not only abolished 40,000 freed slaves were promised 40 acres and a mule 40 acres in a mule is the idea that the
• 09:00 - 09:30 federal government would help enslave people transition into American society a lot plots so that coming out of bondage we can teal our own soil we can grow our own crops we can be self- sustainable self-determining but when President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated and former slave owner Andrew Johnson becomes president the idea is sheld he
• 09:30 - 10:00 shut down this amazing opportunity for political and economic redistribution by some estimates the value of 40 acres and a mule for those 40,000 freed slaves would be worth $640 billion today and if all 4 million had been compensated that number would amount to 6.4 trillion the Lost opportunity and the Betrayal is one of the key threads in the current conditions of wealth disparity in our country to this day that directly exist
• 10:00 - 10:30 along racial lines but one broken presidential promise isn't the only push factor in the first wave of the Great Migration eight Supreme Court Justices will also play their part for a brief period after the end of the Civil War the era known as reconstruction it seems that all you have to do is pick a number the Reconstruction Era was this amazing moment of collective possib ability and
• 10:30 - 11:00 not just for Black Folk but for everyone take for example the number 13 the 13th Amendment abolish slavery or the number 14 if you are born here you are a citizen of the United States so we have a period from 1865 to basically 1876 where African-Americans are protected in the south from the hostility and Terror of the whites this country was founded as a slave nation
• 11:00 - 11:30 and so the Reconstruction amendments was something entirely new an American Republic not governed by white supremacy you have this political project of what America could actually be this was a moment where intermarriage was legal integration of public facilities and schools was legal but to quote the great writer Ralph Ellison history moves more like a boomerang than it does an
• 11:30 - 12:00 arrow reconstruction lasts just 12 years when federal troops are withdrawn from the Southern States in 1877 the era of Jim Crow begins and will last another 90 years Jim Crow is a system of laws that create a separate parallel in many instances unequal life for black people so that white people who now have to interact with them because they are freed from enslaving me have to do so in
• 12:00 - 12:30 the minimal possible way if you were on a street car if a white person wanted to sit down you had to get up and move black children and white children attend different schools there are different fountains to drink out of if you're black or white I heard stories of walking down a sidewalk and if a white person is walking the other way of a black person having to get in the dirty Street the daily indignities of black women working in white women's kitchens being mistreated wages being stolen and
• 12:30 - 13:00 then sometimes having to beat back the advances of the man of the house and facing sexual violence sometimes rape these were the daily conditions of dehumanization mistreatment Terror that African-Americans face on a daily basis it turns out that the 13th and 14th amendments are no match for the number eight
• 13:00 - 13:30 it's Tuesday June 7th 1892 Homer pie a New Orleans Shoemaker is having trouble with a fraction he buys a first class ticket on the 4115 Louisiana local train and takes a seat in the whites only car Homer pie is a person who if you saw him you would think he was a p person his great-grandfather was of Africa descent so he was considered 1/8 negro he had
• 13:30 - 14:00 black blood based on the laws of this country the one drop rule he was a black person and he understood the preposterousness of segregated train lines based on black and white blood so he wanted to test the laws he sits on the train and then at one point during the trip he stands up and tells the conductor I am 1/8 negro
• 14:00 - 14:30 and I'm not moving and so at this point according to law they had to remove him from the train and they arrested him his legal team argued rightfully that this Jim Crow system violated the 13th and 14th amendments of the Constitution of the United States and the thought was that this case will lead to the opening of transportation for black people be able to sit wherever they want to on trains on trolleys and
• 14:30 - 15:00 buses and things like that but it it backfired the case goes all the way to the top where Homer's number eight will prove no match for eight of the Supreme Court justices in 1896 it comes to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court shocks lots of people they decide that there should be separate b equal facilities and it's okay you don't have to integrate it turns turn local Jim Crow
• 15:00 - 15:30 into the law of the land we become not a Jim Crow South but a Jim Crow Nation no one could imagine the Supreme Court would be so retrograde and ridiculous but it isn't just the Jim Crow laws that Target African-Americans it's also violence and for Ida B Wells the greatest push factor of them all will be the number 4,743 the granddaughter of of a slave
• 15:30 - 16:00 Ida is a 5-ft Memphis Powerhouse who can't stand idly by she says one had better die fighting Injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap a true heroine of American History is Ida be Wells when she's dragged off a train for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman she goes one better than Homer plusy not only does she slap a lawsuit on the railroad company she bites into the back of the conductor's hand and for good measure she denounces the Injustice
• 16:00 - 16:30 in print she becomes a journalist and she befriends a guy named Thomas Moss who has a store called The People's grocery store he's African-American and his store is very successful but a dispute breaks out with a rival less successful white-owned store the sheriff went into the grocery store and arrested three African-American males one of them was Mr Moss
• 16:30 - 17:00 but then the police officers and the sheriff looked the other way as a Lynch Mob grabbed these three African-American men took them out of the jail cell and lynched them to death murdered them without [Music] trial and when idb Wells hears about this she's infuriated she just can't believe that this would happen to a fine upstanding person believing the only way to write wrongs is to turn the light truth upon them she spends the following months
• 17:00 - 17:30 traveling alone across the southern states researching other lynchings from the previous decade this is an amazing fire brand of a woman breaking down boundaries as not just an African-American but also as a woman traveling across the country in dangerous terrain and territories where she herself could have been lynched so she carries a pistol in her handbag vowing that if she becomes a victim herself there will be one Les lyncher as
• 17:30 - 18:00 well first revealed by Ida B Wells the scale of violence against African-Americans is shocking it's now estimated that between 1882 and 1968 4,743 African-Americans were lynched or put another way there was one murder every 4 days of the tens of thousands of lynchers and onlookers only 49 are ever indicted and only four are sentenced during the same period nearly 200 anti-
• 18:00 - 18:30 lynching bills are introduced to Congress and zero pass but no number can truly convey the human tragedy of so many innocent lives lost together with the hopes and dreams of thousands of African-Americans when her own office is firebombed for revealing the truth idab Wells Will herself join the Great Migration pushed from the south by segregation and violence pulled to the north by hope of freedom and a better
• 18:30 - 19:00 life The Great Migration was understood as like a a religious revival it wasn't just called leing people called it an exodus from Dixie heading to America's promised [Music] land in the first wave of the Great Migration between 1915 and 1935 1 and a half million African-Americans will leave Dixie including one little boy who will stun the world world with the number
• 19:00 - 19:30 10.3 it's 1923 Alabama James Cleveland or JC to his friends is the 10th child of a poor sharecropper who spent most of his nine years running Barefoot through the cotton fields but tonight is different he's packing up his life to move north with his family he notices his dad's hands are shaking with fright and for the first time in his life little JC realizes this move is going to be a very big deal indeed this was a Herculean feat to leave
• 19:30 - 20:00 everything you knew and go to a new place of existence the ultimate goal was freedom but there were no guarantees they knew the terror and the dehumanization they faced and the freedom that could be had in the urban north was unknown and yet they still took this leap of faith JC's family leave their home in secret in the middle of the night
• 20:00 - 20:30 deciding to go north is one thing getting to the north is a whole different challenge The Great Migration is usually talked about from the perspective of the movement for a different lifestyle opportunities chances jobs but there was also a component of danger they could face threats on the part of white Planters who they were leaving so in many cases African-Americans would leave at night when no one was watching when
• 20:30 - 21:00 African-Americans got on board the train this was just the beginning of the battle African-Americans who travel by train were pushed into certain cars usually the cars at the front of the train which is where we get all the soot all the sors also African-Americans weren't allowed to go into the dining cars and this became a part of the African-American tradition they would take a shoe box and fill it with fried chicken and other snacks because they
• 21:00 - 21:30 wouldn't be able to get food from the dining car they might not be able to use the restroom JC and his family head north on the Illinois Central Railroad along with thousands of other African-Americans from the south who are seeking a new life in cities like Chicago Detroit and Cleveland when they got to the Ohio River the unspoken divide between Jim Crow South and a different North it was almost like a
• 21:30 - 22:00 religious experience in some cases African-Americans would stand up and begin to sing hymns and praise Hallelujah we've crossed over into a new world a new life some African-Americans would get up and just because they could would sit next to a white person to show that they had become a different person that we were entering a different way of life but when they arrive in the North what then you get off the train and
• 22:00 - 22:30 you're trying to figure out where do I go what do I do do I have relatives here how do I go forward it must have been a really really disorienting experience and at the same time one of incredible uh hope and opportunity for JC it means a new school in Cleveland Ohio the elementary teacher will ask his name JC he replies But the teacher not understanding his southern accent thinks he says Jesse so that's
• 22:30 - 23:00 the name she writes in the role book the name sticks and that's how he'll be known to history as Jesse Jesse Owens before there was Usain Bolt before there was Carl Lewis there was Jesse Owens an African-American track phenomenon because of the Great Migration and his relocation to Cleveland he's able to take his skills as an track athlete and run for Ohio State University ultimately joining the Olympic team that would go
• 23:00 - 23:30 to Berlin in 1936 and this is the era of Adolf Hitler who is proclaimed that the white race is the Supreme race Jesse Owens will put his own stamp on History by winning the 100 meter at the Berlin Olympics in a time of precisely 10.3 seconds he wins gold medal in not only the 100 and the 200 but with the 4X 100 and the long jump a four time Gold Medal
• 23:30 - 24:00 winner in 1936 but when Jesse Owens came back from the Olympics to be FedEd and celebrated at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City because Jesse Owens is black he had to enter the celebration through the service elevator celebrated and yet still relegated even today we celebrate black athletes but once they leave the athletic Arena they still receive the same racism and the same treatment and the same attacks as anybody else would
• 24:00 - 24:30 as Jesse Owens famously points out Hitler won't shake his hand but neither will the US President Franklin D [Music] Roosevelt JC is part of the first wave of the Great Migration it's a trickle that will become a flood before the Great Depression over 1 million people join him in the journey North and in the second wave which begins in the' 40s and lasts till the 70s five times as many
• 24:30 - 25:00 people will leave the south in some ways African-Americans found in the urban north of promised land and in other ways they found variations on the same conditions they had just left Malcolm X loveed to say the south is anywhere south of the Canadian border one young family seeking the promised land arrived to find 4,000 Ang ree white guys instead in 1949 Harvey Clark a World War
• 25:00 - 25:30 II veteran and college graduate joins the second wave of the Great Migration taking the Illinois Central Railroad North from Mississippi to Chicago for 2 years he lives with his wife Janetta and his two small kids in a tiny one room tenement in Chicago's South Side it's so small there isn't room for the piano he's bought for his 8-year-old daughter so he decides to move somewhere bigger and he hopes
• 25:30 - 26:00 better the year is 1951 there is a apartment complex in the white community of ciso and Harvey Clark and his family want to move in they begin to drive into this neighborhood and they are immediately met by white residents who stop and halt the truck these white residents are joined by police officers those sworn to protect the law equitably for everyone Harvey is grabbed by 20 police officers he's hit eight times and he's
• 26:00 - 26:30 told to get out of Cicero or you'll get a bullet through you Harvey is undeterred a month later he his wife two kids and all his possessions including the piano move into their new apartment word circulates this Negro family is in this apartment building groups of white individuals begin to congregate around the apartment complex ultimately we have a mob of 4,000 angry whites that
• 26:30 - 27:00 surround the complex and they are whipped up into an animalistic frenzy men and women throw fire bombs into the windows of the building the entire apartment building is on fire the mob storms the apartment and they hurl the family's belongings out the window the sofa the chairs the baby pictures they smashed the piano and set it a light the reality is is white monstrous resistance to
• 27:00 - 27:30 coexistence how dare you demonstrate that you can be equal to me that you can live where I live that you can do what I do and do things that I can't do this was an arrogance and a fear and a mistrust That Could incite my violence like that that happened on that day and evening in ciso 1951 because of zoning regulations and white resistance many us suburbs will remain
• 27:30 - 28:00 segregated 50 years later the 2,000 US Census will reveal that of Cicero's population of 85,681 [Music] comes new music and a new top 10 or to
• 28:00 - 28:30 be precise 79 top 10s all of today's popular music whether it be hip-hop or the pop sound of a Bruto Mars or a Taylor Swift it is directly linked to the musical track along the path of the Great Migration this migration brings to the north all
• 28:30 - 29:00 these different sounds gospel music which is a music of the church and then Muddy Waters comes up from the Mississippi Delta a guy who's going to give us the blues and Louie Armstrong comes up from New Orleans up the Mississippi River bringing with him the sounds of jazz where he plays a trumpet that is so revolutionary and so different it changes the way we think about music both Harlem and Chicago will experience
• 29:00 - 29:30 a cultural Renaissance Detroit on the other hand will have the number 2,648 it's the 1950s just like tens of thousands of other African-American families Barry gordis has joined the Great Migration and come to the Motor City Gordy family moves to the north looking for the opportunities provided by industrial employment especially in a place like Detroit and particularly the automotive
• 29:30 - 30:00 industry he gets married has a wife he has a child and he goes to work in a factory and he hates it he has another 30 years ahead of him watching slow moving car frames trundle past but he comes up with this idea he wants to write music he dreams of starting up his own Factory a hits Factory so he hangs up his wrench and he quits his job he buys a house 2648 West Graham Boulevard and he calls it hitzville USA and the idea
• 30:00 - 30:30 is he's going to turn the garage and the first floor into studio and place where he can make music and he and his family are going to live upstairs he wants to capture the wealth and the spirit of black music that's developing in this migration city of Detroit and protect it from being exploited by white record company executives [Music] he creates an assembly line approach to
• 30:30 - 31:00 churning out black talent in his M toown stable he controls their production their dress their dance steps their diction their interviews presenting a refined black popular sound that could be palatable to the white world and mtown is born and think back to the founder of the Chicago Defender with 25 cents starting
• 31:00 - 31:30 with very little and G Gordy's Little Indie company becomes a major major record label basically with an $800 loan from his family The Supremes the Miracles Stevie Wonder The Temptations Marvin Gay Martha the velas he created a company that catapulted many many young artists and to start them between 1960 and 1969 79 mtown records will chart in the top 10 of the
• 31:30 - 32:00 Billboard Hot 100 and pop music is changed forever that's what ber was all about I want to be part of the American mainstream his motto is it's The Sound of Young America and that's what mtown [Music] was it isn't Only The Genius of jazz and blues that comes North with 6 million African-Americans they also bring the number 3113 in 1920 while many head north a
• 32:00 - 32:30 young single mother and her five children Bor the Freedom Train on an Epic 2,000m Journey from Georgia to California the youngest of her children is 16 months old his name is Jackie Robinson 27 years later he'll become the first African-American to break the color barrier and play Major League Baseball Jackie Robinson his contribution on society absolutely incredible everyone thinks
• 32:30 - 33:00 Colin Kaepernick was one of the first people to oppose standing for the anthem for racial Justice Jackie Robinson talked about that in the 60s and 70s Jackie Robinson will end his career with a batting average of 313 but sometimes the numbers and baseball stats can be deceiving Robinson begins his professional career segregated from White players in 1890 the major white leagues of the era laid down this edict called
• 33:00 - 33:30 the gentleman's agreement that no major white baseball leagues would ever integrate individual black players or black teams from this comes the emergence of an independent black baseball league the black baseball teams develop and grow to the point where people like Branch Ricky of the Brooklyn Dodgers saw the gate receipts of regular Negro League games
• 33:30 - 34:00 and said you know what wait a minute I got to get a piece of that he recruits Jackie Robinson but not because of his stats Jackie Robinson was not the pride of the Negro League so it wasn't that he was the best player it was that he was the right guy for the job somebody who they knew could handle what this person who broke the color line would have to endure when you consider that Jackie Robinson was a lowlevel player in the Negro Leagues and a superior player in
• 34:00 - 34:30 the white leagues that raised the stakes on this story especially when you think about a player like Josh Gibson he was reported to have over 800 home runs in the Negro Leagues Jackie Robinson's career batting average is 313 Babe Ruth has an average of 342 Josh Gibson's is even better at 374 Josh Gibson was the Negro League's version of Babe Ruth at the same time time he had better stats than Babe Ruth in the Negro
• 34:30 - 35:00 Leagues they would call Babe Ruth the white Josh Gibson at the end of the day the story of Jackie Robinson and the African-Americans who followed is not one of poor black players being rescued by the benevolent white father this is a story of seeing the value of the Negro Leagues and trying to capitalize on this independent Black Enterprise in a way that could benefit the white major Le but it will take more than one man's
• 35:00 - 35:30 batting average to break down the color barrier as well as their worldly possessions their music and their culture the migrants also brought with them the possibility of change and in the struggle for civil rights one thing that changes forever is politics one of the important connections between the Great Migration and the modern Civil Rights Movement is Black Americans ability to get elected to political
• 35:30 - 36:00 offices after the Civil War One Number above all others holds out the possibility of change it's the 15th Amendment which said you cannot be denied the right to vote based on your race black people start organizing themselves they are able to vote and they elect people at all levels of government between 1863 and 1877 approximately 1,500 African-American men men many of whom are born enslaved become the first black Americans elected
• 36:00 - 36:30 or appointed to positions on the federal state and local level 14 are members of the House of Representatives two are Senators 90% of African-American men register to vote for the very first time but it turns out that for African-Americans living in the Jim Crow South their right to vote will be taken away by madeup rules like knowing the number of bubbles in a bar of hope take someone like Ida May Brandon in the
• 36:30 - 37:00 1930s she's a sharecropper rearing turkeys picking cotton and struggling to keep her two small kids clothed and fed despite the number 15 it has never occurred to her to vote in an election the Jim Crow South is organized itself so that black people are discriminated against in their politics one of the examples is a literacy test where you go to register to vote and the question could be how many bubbles are in a bar of
• 37:00 - 37:30 soap there might be intimidation that happens where members of the white Community paying dummies buy a noose and have a sign that says this nword voted as a way to suggest that if you vote you might be hanged when idem joins The Great Migration and leaves Mississippi she finds herself in Chicago before the Great Migration it was very difficult for black people to
• 37:30 - 38:00 participate in politics but the likelihood they could participate in the north was much greater than it would be in the South the 1940 presidential election is the first time that Ida has ever stepped into a voting booth and the first time in her life she has ever had a say in political matters The Great Migration fundamentally reshapes electorates in the north so politics is all about who can vote how easy it is for them to vote and whether they actually turn out to vote idem's vote is
• 38:00 - 38:30 one of more than 2 million cast for Franklin D Roosevelt in the swing state of Illinois and it's because of the Great Migration he's elected for a third term it's a historic election because under Roosevelt the US will enter World War II but for African-Americans politics is a slippery game and having a vote proves not nearly enough in history books and a popular memory we understand the Civil Rights Movement is being primarily focused on
• 38:30 - 39:00 the US South battling with the peculiar institution known as Jim Crow but as the migration brought African-Americans into urban northern and western cities the Civil Rights Campaign migrated and grew at the same Pace in Greensboro in the southern state of North Carolina it begins with the number four in February 1960 a group of teenage friends have had a enough and decide to take matters into their own hands history will know them
• 39:00 - 39:30 as the Greensboro four protesting is as American as American history our founding fathers did it it's one of the 10 Bill of Rights the right to protest it's an ordinary Monday afternoon in Greensboro North Carolina four college students are shopping at Woolworth's a typical Five and Dime Store at the cashier they buy toothpaste and some school supplies a notebook and some colored pencils on the far side of the shop is
• 39:30 - 40:00 the Lunch Counter they can smell the aroma of coffee and apple pie and hear the wor of the soda fountain and its milkshakes and ice cream sodas this was a meeting point throughout most cities the lunch counter at wwor so in a moment where African-Americans are arguing for the right of equal access to both public and private facilities it's not by accident that the warts counter would become a sight of struggle an invisible line
• 40:00 - 40:30 separates the four friends in the shopping area from The Lunch Counter it's called segregation to cross that line would risk arrest a beating or worse but they cross it anyway and sit down at the counter where they're refused service the following day 25 students turn up at the lunch counter to protest on the third day there are 63 and by Friday 300 this would become a flash point in what
• 40:30 - 41:00 was emerging as the Civil Rights Movement it was four young African-Americans who made the decision to sit at the counter and endure epitet violence to remain Resolute civil and resounding the image of these four African-Americans sitting there facing the rius animalistic actions of
• 41:00 - 41:30 these white crowds surrounding them became a turning point they had incredible optimism of we can make this country live up to its promise and that's what we're going to do and if it means that we have to face death then we have to face it it's incredibly Brave it's a an heroic period in American history within a month the protests have spread
• 41:30 - 42:00 to 30 cities in seven states involving 50,000 students from Greensboro and elsewhere in the South the Civil Rights Movement heads North along the route of the Great Migration Marther King marches through white neighborhoods on the west side of Chicago and he says that he had never seen anything like this in his life marching through Chicago's White neighborhoods he was hit with the nword
• 42:00 - 42:30 there were NES there were swastikas and Confederate flags he was hit in the head with a brick he said some of the worst racial violence he'd ever experienced was in Birmingham Alabama and he called Chicago the Birmingham of the [Music] north so what does it take to sign civil rights into law it turns out you need not just one pen but several thousand The Great Migration
• 42:30 - 43:00 has a tremendous impact on politics in the North in the past politicians only had to make decisions about how they might engage white voters but once black voters come into these cities through the Great Migration politicians have to make calculations about how they will engage them they had to pay attention to the black vote and that changed the dynamic in the whole country for one young Senator seeking to become president the answer seems all too easy as part of his campaigning to black
• 43:00 - 43:30 people in 1960 John F Kennedy said that he could end housing segregation and discrimination with the stroke of a pin in one of the tightest presidential elections it's the African-American vote that gives the victory to Kennedy but when he gets into the Oval Office John F Kennedy can't seem to find a pen anywhere to sign civil rights into law black people from around the nation mail pins to the White House to remind him of his promise that he could in segregation with the stroke of a pin thousands and
• 43:30 - 44:00 thousands of pins showed up at the White House it's not until 1964 that President Johnson Kennedy's successor signs into law the Civil Rights Act and just because he can he uses 75 pens in the 20th Century 6 million African-Americans make the Trek north and west their search for justice and freedom will continue to this day driven not by a number but by a hashtag the
• 44:00 - 44:30 black lives matter movement basically speaks to the fail Promises of the Great Migration the jaist reality of the north as a promised land that the children grandchildren and great-grandchildren whose parents and grandparents had made St North to make a better life for their children are realizing that conditions were not as they had hoped [Music]
• 44:30 - 45:00 the issues that black lives matter is focused on today are the same issues that we were fighting about during the Great Migration there has been progress but there is much further to go to this day the children and grandchildren of the Great Migration continue to transform America while the Great Migration might be a un finished project it's a spirit it's an
• 45:00 - 45:30 ambition it is an audacity to believe that there can be another way despite the overwhelming force of one's current conditions that spirit is carried Within Me most historians don't have the opportunity to be a product of the history that they tell but I can say that I am a historian that is proud to
• 45:30 - 46:00 be a product of the history of the Great Migration what I see with the Great Migration was people creating their own story having agency and I think that their children and grandchildren I'm one of them have benefited from that incredible push onward and forward
• 46:00 - 46:30 [Music]