The Great Migration; or Leaving My Troubles in Dixie
This seminar will focus on the factors that both pushed and pulled African Americans from the South after the Civil War. It will analyze the images of the North that prevailed among Southern blacks, the forces that shaped those images, and the prominent themes that the Great Migration brought to African American literature. How were the realities African Americans encountered in "the Promised Land" of the North comparable to experiences they had undergone in the South? What roles did individuals, agencies, family, and business play in the movement north? And how does an examination of westward migration and migration from rural to urban areas within the South broaden understandings of the Great Migration?
Led by distinguished scholars, each seminar will consist of three sessions. The first two, featuring lecture and discussion, will focus on the close analysis of images and primary documents. The third will concentrate on the integration of seminar ideas and material into lesson plans using the Center's Seminar-to-Classroom Guide.