Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration
Co-published with the DuSable Museum of African American History
Recipient of 2007 The Hyde Park Historical Society Paul Cornell Award

A collection of interviews with African Americans who came to Chicago from the South. In their first great migration to Chicago that began during World War I, African Americans came from the South seeking a better life—and fleeing a Jim Crow system of racial prejudice, discrimination, and segregation. What they found was much less than what they'd hoped for, but it was much better than what they'd come from—and in the process they set in motion vast changes not only in Chicago but also in the whole fabric of American society. This book, the first of three volumes, revisits this momentous chapter in American history with those who lived it.

Oral history of the first order, Bridges of Memory lets us hear the voices of those who left social, political, and economic oppression for political freedom and opportunity such as they'd never known—and for new forms of prejudice and segregation. These children and grandchildren of ex-slaves found work in the stockyards and steel mills of Chicago, settled and started small businesses in the "Black Belt" on the South Side, and brought forth the jazz, blues, and gospel music that the city is now known for. Historian Timuel D. Black, Jr., himself the son of first-generation migrants to Chicago, interviews a wide cross-section of African Americans whose remarks and reflections touch on issues ranging from fascism to Jim Crow segregation to the origin of the blues. Their recollections comprise a vivid record of a neighborhood, a city, a society, and a people undergoing dramatic and unprecedented changes.
1111385629
Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration
Co-published with the DuSable Museum of African American History
Recipient of 2007 The Hyde Park Historical Society Paul Cornell Award

A collection of interviews with African Americans who came to Chicago from the South. In their first great migration to Chicago that began during World War I, African Americans came from the South seeking a better life—and fleeing a Jim Crow system of racial prejudice, discrimination, and segregation. What they found was much less than what they'd hoped for, but it was much better than what they'd come from—and in the process they set in motion vast changes not only in Chicago but also in the whole fabric of American society. This book, the first of three volumes, revisits this momentous chapter in American history with those who lived it.

Oral history of the first order, Bridges of Memory lets us hear the voices of those who left social, political, and economic oppression for political freedom and opportunity such as they'd never known—and for new forms of prejudice and segregation. These children and grandchildren of ex-slaves found work in the stockyards and steel mills of Chicago, settled and started small businesses in the "Black Belt" on the South Side, and brought forth the jazz, blues, and gospel music that the city is now known for. Historian Timuel D. Black, Jr., himself the son of first-generation migrants to Chicago, interviews a wide cross-section of African Americans whose remarks and reflections touch on issues ranging from fascism to Jim Crow segregation to the origin of the blues. Their recollections comprise a vivid record of a neighborhood, a city, a society, and a people undergoing dramatic and unprecedented changes.
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Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration

Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration

Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration

Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration

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Overview

Co-published with the DuSable Museum of African American History
Recipient of 2007 The Hyde Park Historical Society Paul Cornell Award

A collection of interviews with African Americans who came to Chicago from the South. In their first great migration to Chicago that began during World War I, African Americans came from the South seeking a better life—and fleeing a Jim Crow system of racial prejudice, discrimination, and segregation. What they found was much less than what they'd hoped for, but it was much better than what they'd come from—and in the process they set in motion vast changes not only in Chicago but also in the whole fabric of American society. This book, the first of three volumes, revisits this momentous chapter in American history with those who lived it.

Oral history of the first order, Bridges of Memory lets us hear the voices of those who left social, political, and economic oppression for political freedom and opportunity such as they'd never known—and for new forms of prejudice and segregation. These children and grandchildren of ex-slaves found work in the stockyards and steel mills of Chicago, settled and started small businesses in the "Black Belt" on the South Side, and brought forth the jazz, blues, and gospel music that the city is now known for. Historian Timuel D. Black, Jr., himself the son of first-generation migrants to Chicago, interviews a wide cross-section of African Americans whose remarks and reflections touch on issues ranging from fascism to Jim Crow segregation to the origin of the blues. Their recollections comprise a vivid record of a neighborhood, a city, a society, and a people undergoing dramatic and unprecedented changes.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780810123151
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
Publication date: 02/22/2005
Series: Chicago Lives
Edition description: 1
Pages: 656
Product dimensions: 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.80(d)
Age Range: 3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

TIMUEL D. BLACK, JR. is a prominent civil rights activist, noted jazz historian, and professor emeritus of social sciences at the City Colleges of Chicago. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, he moved to Chicago as a baby, and has lived here since. He holds a B.A. from Roosevelt University and a master's degree from the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

Foreword
John Hope Franklin

Foreword
Studs Terkel

Introduction

Willis Thomas
Warren Kirkland (and Mr. Rhodes)
Thomas Ellis and Edith Ellis
Fred Smith
Representative Corneal Davis
Lillie Lodge Brantley
Robert Colin
Ida Mae Cress
Ernest Griffin
Etta Moten Barnett
Alonzo Parham
Gwendolyn Davis
Irma Clark
Wayman Hancock
Jimmy Ellis
Morris Ellis
John Levy
Eddie Johnson
Juanita Tucker
Mildred Bowden and Hermene Hartman
Louis Caldwell
Alvin "Al" Boutte
James "Jack" Isbell
Dorsey Day
Jacoby Dickens
Dorothy McConner
George Johnson
Walter "Buddy" Brown
Commander Milton Deas Jr.
Dr. Rudy Nimocks
LeRoy Martin
Judge Earl Strayhorn
Justice William Cousins
Marjorie Echols and Harvey Echols
Bishop Arthur Brazier
Dr. Barbara Bowman and Dr. James Bowman

Conclusion
Index
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