The Great Migration saw over 6 million African Americans relocate from the rural South to Northern and Western cities between 1916-1970. This mass movement had a huge impact on urban life as Black Americans built new communities and cultures while confronting economic and social challenges in the cities. The Harlem Renaissance emerged from this period, as the "New Negro" movement encouraged cultural pride and independence among African Americans. However, migrants still faced hardships like poor housing and racism in their new urban homes.

1. HARLEM RENAISSANCE:
The Great Migration and Life in the Inner Cities

2. THE GREAT MIGRATION
BY CLARENCE ROWE
Clarence Rowe, “The Great
Migration,” Teaching & Learning
Cleveland , accessed October 17, 2012,
http://csudigitalhumanities.org/exhib
its

3. “Fellow Negroes of the South, leave
Letter to the Editor: there. Go North, East, and West—anywhere—
to get out of that hell hole. There are better
The Messenger, March 1920
schools here for your children, higher wages for
yourselves, votes if you are twenty-one, better
Black publications continued to housing and more liberty. All is not rosy here,
encourage migration after
WWI, as is evident in this 1920
by any means, but it is Paradise compared with
editorial from the Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and
Messenger, which link s Migration Alabama. Besides, you make it better for those
to better opportunities fro both you leave behind. Labor becomes scarce, so
migrants and those who stay in that the Bourbons of Dixie* are compelled to
the South. It also hints at pay your brothers back home more wages.
hardships in the North. Such They will give them more schools and
hardships may have been privileges, too, to try to get them to come back
responsible for the resurrection of and, secondly, to try to keep you from leaving.
emigration movements in the
1920s– most famously, Marcus
Stop buying property in the South, to be
Garvey’s Back to African burned down and run away from over night.
campaign- as new migrants Sell out your stuff quietly, saying nothing to the
discovered that the South did not Negro lackeys, and leave! Come into the land of
hold a monopoly on racism and at least incipient civilization!”
economic hardship.

4. “Fellow
Negroes of the The relocation of more than 6
South, leave
there. Go million African Americans from the
North, East, an
d West—
rural South to the cities of the
anywhere—to North, Midwest and West from
get out of that
hell hole.” 1916 to 1970, had a huge impact on
urban life in the United States.

6. “The South” by Langston Hughes
The lazy, laughing South
With blood on its mouth.
The sunny-faced South,
Beast-strong,
Idiot-brained.
The child-minded South
Scratching in the dead fire's ashes
For a Negro's bones.
Cotton and the moon,
Warmth, earth, warmth,
The sky, the sun, the stars,
The magnolia-scented South.
Beautiful, like a woman,
Seductive as a dark-eyed whore,
Passionate, cruel,
Honey-lipped, syphilitic--
That is the South.
And I, who am black, would love her
But she spits in my face.
And I, who am black,
Would give her many rare gifts
But she turns her back upon me.
So now I seek the North--
The cold-faced North,
For she, they say,
Is a kinder mistress,
And in her house my children
May escape the spell of the South.

7. Great Migration
During the Great Migration, African
Americans began to build a new
place for themselves in public life,
actively confronting economic,
political and social challenges and
creating a new black urban culture
that would exert enormous influence
in the decades to come.
“Armistice Day, Lenox Ave. 4 west 134th street, Harlem 1919”

8. The “New Negro”
• African Americans were encouraged to celebrate
their heritage and to become "The New Negro," a
term coined in 1925 by sociologist and critic Alain
LeRoy Locke in his influential book of the same
name.
• "For the younger generation," Alain Locke wrote
in 1925, "is vibrant with a new psychology." This
new spirit he described as basically a renewal of
"self-respect and self-dependence."

9. • African Americans were encouraged to
Alain Locke’s “New Negro” celebrate their heritage and to become
Movement "The New Negro," a term coined in
1925 by sociologist and critic Alain
LeRoy Locke in his influential book of
the same name.
• "For the younger generation," Alain
Locke wrote in 1925, "is vibrant with a
new psychology." This new spirit he
described as basically a renewal of
"self-respect and self-dependence.“
• This movement promoted a renewed
sense of racial pride, cultural self-
expression, economic independence,
and progressive politics.

10. I, too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow, I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.
Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.

11. Living Spaces in the Cities
Chicago, New York and other cities saw their black populations expand
exponentially, migrants were forced to deal with poor working conditions and
competition for living space, as well as widespread racism and prejudice.

12. The rent man knocked.
He said, Howdy-do?
I said, What
Can I do for you?
He said, You know
Your rent is due.
I said, Listen,
Before I'd pay
I'd go to Hades
And rot away!
The sink is broke,
The water don't run,
And you ain't done a thing
You promised to've done.
Back window's cracked,
Kitchen floor squeaks,
There's rats in the cellar,
And the attic leaks.
He said, Madam,
It's not up to me.
I'm just the agent,
Don't you see?
I said, Naturally,
You pass the buck.
If it's money you want
You're out of luck.
He said, Madam,
I ain't pleased!
I said, Neither am I.
So we agrees!

13. What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

14. FINAL QUESTIONS: