Browse the "Migration" section of the African-American Mosaic and read the pages on Nicodemus and Chicago.

• What conclusions can you draw about Nicodemus and Chicago as destinations for rural blacks intent on leaving the South?

• What do the manuscripts, maps, prints, and photographs in the on-line exhibition suggest about similarities and differences in the motivations and experiences of the migrants to these two places?

Activity #1: Identifying Motivations of Migrants

Read the seven letters sent to the Chicago Defender in 1917. As you read the letters, keep the following questions is mind:

• What do the letters suggest about the motivations of those who sought to leave the South?

• What do the letters suggest about the dreams the migrants had for life in the urban North or Midwest?

• What do the letters suggest about the process of migration that enabled blacks to leave the South?

 
• Using information from the Up South video, the Viewer's Guide, and the on-line resources you examined in this activity, write a letter from a prospective Southern migrant to Robert S. Abbott, editor of the Chicago Defender explaining your reasons for wanting to leave Mississippi and inquiring about opportunities for you in Chicago.

 
• Select five images from the collection of Jacob Lawrence's Migration series and incorporate them to illustrate the key themes in your letter.   You may use either Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to produce your letter.

Activity #2: Evaluating the Experiences of Migrants to the "Promised Land"

Read the summaries of interviews with migrants to Chicago conducted by Charles Johnson, research investigator for the Chicago Urban League. As you read Johnson's summaries, keep the following questions in mind:

• How well did Chicago meet the expectations of African Americans who left the South during the Great Migration? In what ways were migrants satisfied with life in Chicago? In what ways were they disappointed?

• What challenges did they face upon arriving at their destination?

• What strategies did they develop to survive in Chicago?

 
• Using information from the Up South video, the Viewer's Guide, and the on-line resources you examined in this activity, write a letter from a Southern migrant to Robert S. Abbott, editor of the Chicago Defender reporting on your experiences after migrating from Mississippi to Chicago. Be sure to identify major opportunities and obstacles you have encountered.

 

 

• Select five images from the collection of Jacob Lawrence's Migration series and incorporate them to illustrate the key themes in your letter.   You may use either Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to produce your letter.

The African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam001.html

"Sir I Will Thank You with All My Heart": Seven Letters from the Great Migration

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5332/

"We Tho[ugh]t State Street Would Be Heaven Itself": Black Migrants Speak Out

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5337/
 

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords

http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/

Read biographies of Chicago journalists Robert S. Abbott and Ida B. Wells and the full transcript of Stanley Nelson's film The Black Press for more information about the role of the Black press in the migration of Southerners to Chicago.

The African American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ohshtml/aaeohome.html

Use the "Mississippi" and "Chicago" as keywords in "Search by Keyword" function to identify additional manuscript and printed text and images that describe the experiences of African Americans in Mississippi and Chicago.