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The Great Migration

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The Great Migration
What I Already Knew and What I Wanted to Know I selected The Great Migration because I already knew some of the information about it, and I was interested in learning more about it and discovering the reasons behind it. I knew that it was a migration of the African Americans from the South to the North, and that they traveled because of unfair treatment and to try to obtain more rights that they didn’t originally have in the South. This topic interested me because I had some recollection of what had happened during the time period of the Great Migration from learning about it in the past and I wanted to learn more about what had happened during it. I was wondering what the economic and cultural effects of The Great Migration …show more content…

During this period there were droughts, floods, and soil erosion in the South. They were held accountable for their share of the portion of crop, as well as their landlord’s, so many of them had to declare bankruptcy and they suffered financial losses. (“Great Migration: What Caused the Great Migrations” 73). African Americans moved North to escape racial discrimination such as Jim Crow Laws, poor schools, and second-class citizenship (Horton 114). They believed they would be given more rights and economic power in the North, which would have removed racial barriers and helped cause the movement (“Great Migration: What Caused the Great Migrations?” 72). A black newspaper called the Chicago Defender helped with this by convincing black people to migrate North. They viewed the North as a land of freedom and called it “The Promised Land” (“The Great Migration”).
Life in the North for African Americans was still harsh because they still faced racial segregation and were given low paying jobs. Housing was scarce and expensive in the crowded cities, and they had to transition to life in the colder climates (Clavin). The life they had in the North was still better than the life they had in the South though, and the North started to become places to celebrate black life and culture …show more content…

My weakness as a researcher was finding articles that go in depth of a certain aspect of my topic instead of covering the whole topic. I started my project by going over what I already knew, and building on it. I knew that African Americans left for the North for citizenship rights and because of racial discrimination, but I didn’t know about the Jim Crow Laws, or that the Harlem Renaissance were caused by The Great Migration. I managed my time on the project by getting as much done as I

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