Analysis Of The Great Migration Reflections On 'By'step Afrika'

The progression of people into and within the United States has had an essential impact on the nation, both intentionally and unintentionally. Progressions such as The Great Migration and the Second Great Migration are examples of movements that impacted the United States greatly. During these movements, African Americans migrated to flee racism and prejudice in the South, as well as to inquire jobs in industrial cities. They were unable to escape racism, but they were able to infuse their culture into American society. During the twentieth century, economic and political problems led to movements such as The Great Migration and The Second Great Migration which impacted the United States significantly.

The “Great Migration” was from 1910-1930 and almost 750,000 African Americans moved into Northern cities; 175,000 moved to Harlem, which made it the largest black community in the country. This era was known for racial consciousness, racial integration, dramatic arts and painting. In addition, it was known for the explosion of music especially jazz and the blues. This outburst of confidence, expression, creativity and talent sparked the African American drive and created a “rebirth” of African American culture. A few of the famous influences were Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Duke Ellington Johnson and Louis Armstrong.

One the most distinguished artists of the twentieth century, Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City and spnt part of his child hood in Pennsylvania. After his parents split up in 1924, he went with his mother and siblings to New York, settling in Harlem. "He trained as a painter at the Harlem Art Workshop, inside the New York Public Library's 113 5th Street branch. Younger than the artists and writers who took part in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Lawrence was also at an angle to them: he was not interested in the kind of idealized, fake-primitive images of blacks - the Noble Negroes in Art Deco guise - that tended to be produced as an antidote to the toxic racist stereotypes with which white popular culture had flooded

“Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America The Four Great Migrations. By Ira Berlin. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Pp 289”

Lorraine O’Gradys’ unintentionally historic performances, seemingly elevate everyday life to the status of art. In her ‘exhibit’ at the Studio Museum, her work is represented through photographs, in ‘Art is…’. Thirty years ago, O’Grady presented ‘Art is’ in the form of a float in the African American Day Parade right here in Harlem. Performers pranced with empty frames, metaphorically capturing fleeting pictures of the people and places that surrounded the route of the parade. By doing so, the trappings of high art were brought out of the museum, into the street, which promotes a new way people might begin to recognize this new art form in the celebrations of every day life. The

The Great Migration was a massive movement of African Americans from the South to the North from 1863 to 1960. The largest spike in this migration occurred from about 1910 to 1920.

Lawrence himself was raised in New York after his parents moved there from South Carolina, which personally tied him to The Great Migration as his parents were part of the movement. While a young man in New York Lawrence fell in love with art produced by the Harlem Renaissance and began studying African art at the 135th Street Public Library, where he then became interested in the history behind Harlem and The Great Migration. After extensive research on the topic Lawrence learned of the depths of Southern racism as well as the hardships the migrants faced during their lives and “by drawing upon his emotional responses to them” he began planning The Migration of the Negro (The Phillips Collection 1). Once started the series became the center of Lawrence's focus and all his time poured into the project as Lawrence was devoted to his “ethnic pride and his desire to reveal events” that took place in so many African-Americans lives including his own parents (The Phillips Collection 1). Through these panels he was able to illustrate the corrupt social climate that resulted in the suffering of countless migrants. For example in Panel 22, named “Another of the social causes of the migrants’ leaving was that at times they did not feel safe,

This poem shows that all immigrants move to the United States to look for the “American Dream”. They risk their lives to obtain a better life for themselves and their families. When the author says:

Wilkerson, Isabel. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. New York, NY: Random House, 2010.

The continuities of the migration from the south to the north. At this time about 500,000 african american southerners migrated to the north for better opportunities including better rights and industrial jobs,but there was some components that were negatively the same as the south side. As african americans they still faced oppression. This form of oppression consisted of discrimination and racial profiling. Sooner or later the neighborhoods the increased with african american population became known as the ghetto. One overall component that continued to happen was the lynching of african americans. Although this was illegal in the north,many people of the caucasian ethnicity did not like the fact that many african americans were overpopulating

Fred Wilson is an art activist for minority groups, especially the African American population, which in today`s generation, is looked upon as the unseen minority group (Grinberg 2012). Wilson creates innovative exhibitions to display art and artifacts found in museum collections with arrangements that represent minority contemporary artists. His ideas lead the audience to acknowledge that changes in the perceptive view transform the whole meaning of what is presented.

During the mass immigration era of America, an abundant number of people traveled to the urban industrial society of the United States in aspiration to seek job opportunities and better lives than the ones they left behind. These groups included the Poles, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, Japanese, East European Jews, and the African- Americans. However, one of these groups mentioned was distinctly different from the rest: the African-Americans. They were already American citizens, who migrated to the northern American cities to free themselves from segregation, oppression, and harsh conditions they experienced in the South and obtain equal rights and opportunities. Although the African-Americans'

interviews of people who have or know people who have experienced historical events of the past. For this essay, I chose to take an oral history of the civil rights movement and the great migration. Preserving the memories of the individuals that lived during these historical events allows for many things in addressing the silence of African American experiences within U.S. History. First, memories and recollections taken from oral histories may differ from the perspectives of those who have appear on historical records or may be completely absent from any other documentations. Also, because cameras and video cameras were not as easily accessible as they are today, the majority of history is documented from peoples’ memories through letters, diaries, and oral history interviews. In addition, taking an oral history allows me to ask specific questions towards what I am are interested in documenting about the civil rights movement and the great migration. Lastly, oral histories are somewhat viewed as a “revisionist” to the study of both the civil rights movement and the great migration because it takes firsthand accounts of those participating on campaigns and protests and also of those were watching from afar and allows readers to understand each individual part of what made the movement as a whole.

cities in the North and West during the beginning of the twentieth century. The artist

Investigating the effect of rural-urban migration on the four districts of the North West province in South Africa using Manova technique.