Strangers in the Land of Paradise: Creation of an African American Community in Buffalo, New York, 1900-1940 / Edition 1

by Lillian Serece Williams

Overview

Now in paperback!

Strangers in the Land of Paradise
The Creation of an African American Community, Buffalo, NY, 1900–1940
Lillian Serece Williams

Examines the settlement of African Americans in Buffalo during the Great Migration.

"A splendid contribution to the fields of African-American and American urban, social and family history. . . . expanding the tradition that is now well underway of refuting the pathological emphasis of the prevailing ghetto studies of the 1960s and '70s." —Joe W. Trotter

Strangers in the Land of Paradise discusses the creation of an African American community as a distinct cultural entity. It describes values and institutions that Black migrants from the South brought with them, as well as those that evolved as a result of their interaction with Blacks native to the city and the city itself. Through an examination of work, family, community organizations, and political actions, Lillian Williams explores the process by which the migrants adapted to their new environment.

The lives of African Americans in Buffalo from 1900 to 1940 reveal much about race, class, and gender in the development of urban communities. Black migrant workers transformed the landscape by their mere presence, but for the most part they could not rise beyond the lowest entry-level positions. For African American women, the occupational structure was even more restricted; eventually, however, both men and women increased their earning power, and that—over time—improved life for both them and their loved ones.

Lillian Serece Williams is Associate Professor of History in the Women's Studies Department and Director of the Institute for Research on Women at Albany, the State University of New York. She is editor of Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 1895–1992, associate editor of Black Women in United States History, and author of A Bridge to the Future: The History of Diversity in Girl Scouting.

352 pages, 14 b&w illus., 15 maps, notes, bibl., index, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Blacks in the Diaspora—Darlene Clark Hine, John McCluskey, Jr., and David Barry Gaspar, general editors

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253214089
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	07/22/2000
Series:	Blacks in the Diaspora
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Lillian Serece Williams is Chair of African American Studies at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York.

Table of Contents

	Preface	XI
	Acknowledgments	XVI
	Introduction	1
Part I	Blacks in Twentieth-Century Buffalo: Structural Development
1.	The Early Years	9
2.	Growing Up Black	31
3.	To Help See One Another Through	45
4.	Work	65
Part II	Blacks Organize to Improve Their Status: Institutional Development
5.	Philanthropy and Uplift	99
6.	Not Alms, but Opportunity	123
7.	Civil Rights, Politics, and Community	151
	Conclusion	188
Appendix I	Figures
1.	Age Distribution of Buffalo Population by Race and Sex, 1920	194
a.	Blacks
b.	Whites
2.	Household Status of Black Males, 1905	195
3.	Household Status of Black Males, 1925	196
4.	Household Status of Black Females, 1905	197
5.	Household Status of Black Females, 1925	198
6.	Median Salary and Weekly Experience--High School and Grammar School	199
7.	Median Salary and Weekly Experience--Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish Women	199
8.	Median Salary and Weekly Experience--American and "Old Immigration" Groups	200
9.	Median Salary and Weekly Experience--American and "New Immigration" Groups	200
10.	Median Salary and Weekly Experience--American and "Old Immigration" Groups (high school graduates only)	201
11.	Median Salary and Weekly Experience--American and "New Immigration" Groups (high school graduates only)	201
Appendix II	Maps
1.	Black Population in the City of Buffalo, 1905	204
2.	Black Population in the City of Buffalo, 1915	205
3.	Black Population in the City of Buffalo, 1925	206
4.	Ethnic Settlements in Buffalo at the Turn of the Twentieth Century	207
5.	Buffalo Tracts, Wards, Councilmanic Districts	208
Appendix III	Method of Computerization and Occupation Codes	209
	Notes	217
	Bibliography	249
	Periodicals and Newspapers	261
	Manuscript Collections	263
	Index	265

Editorial Reviews

"[A] fine book, and one that significantly enhances our understanding of the processes of gender, community building and the struggle for equality and dignity that African Americans in Buffalo waged between 1900 and 1940.August 2002"—Urban History

"The small but long-lived African American community of Buffalo, New York, grew from free blacks and runaway slaves in the years before the Civil War and then increased in number with migrants from the rural South with the coming of WW I. This standard background serves as the basis for Williams's solid and scholarly exploration of how newer migrants coming to benefit from industrialization collided with the earlier settlers. There was at once a sense of responsibility to look after and yet also keep a distance from uncultured and rustic kinsmen. This finely nuanced study evokes class and status divisions within the African American neighborhoods while presenting readers with the omnipresent role of the black church as a cohesive force among the divisive elements tearing at the community. Black clergy and the social elite served an important leadership role in preserving a sense of dignity and fighting for civil rights, despite the fact that the same leadership might split on whether or not to endorse Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Williams brings a fine balance to her work, revealing a group composed of people whose lives, institutions, and struggle for acceptance, achievement, and advancement mirrored the struggles of so many others. Upper-division undergraduates and above."—J. Kleiman, University of Wisconsin Colleges , 2000jan CHOICE.

From the Publisher

The small but long-lived African American community of Buffalo, New York, grew from free blacks and runaway slaves in the years before the Civil War and then increased in number with migrants from the rural South with the coming of WW I. This standard background serves as the basis for Williams's solid and scholarly exploration of how newer migrants coming to benefit from industrialization collided with the earlier settlers. There was at once a sense of responsibility to look after and yet also keep a distance from uncultured and rustic kinsmen. This finely nuanced study evokes class and status divisions within the African American neighborhoods while presenting readers with the omnipresent role of the black church as a cohesive force among the divisive elements tearing at the community. Black clergy and the social elite served an important leadership role in preserving a sense of dignity and fighting for civil rights, despite the fact that the same leadership might split on whether or not to endorse Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Williams brings a fine balance to her work, revealing a group composed of people whose lives, institutions, and struggle for acceptance, achievement, and advancement mirrored the struggles of so many others. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

Universityof Wisconsin Colleges , 2000jan CHOICE. - J. Kleiman

[A] fine book, and one that significantly enhances our understanding of the processes of gender, community building and the struggle for equality and dignity that African Americans in Buffalo waged between 1900 and 1940.August 2002

Urban History

The small but long-lived African American community of Buffalo, New York, grew from free blacks and runaway slaves in the years before the Civil War and then increased in number with migrants from the rural South with the coming of WW I. This standard background serves as the basis for Williams's solid and scholarly exploration of how newer migrants coming to benefit from industrialization collided with the earlier settlers. There was at once a sense of responsibility to look after and yet also keep a distance from uncultured and rustic kinsmen. This finely nuanced study evokes class and status divisions within the African American neighborhoods while presenting readers with the omnipresent role of the black church as a cohesive force among the divisive elements tearing at the community. Black clergy and the social elite served an important leadership role in preserving a sense of dignity and fighting for civil rights, despite the fact that the same leadership might split on whether or not to endorse Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Williams brings a fine balance to her work, revealing a group composed of people whose lives, institutions, and struggle for acceptance, achievement, and advancement mirrored the struggles of so many others. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

University of Wisconsin Colleges , 2000jan CHOICE. - J. Kleiman

Williams brings a fine balance to her work, revealing a group composed of people whose lives, institutions, and struggle for acceptance, achievement, and advancement mirrored the struggles of so many others.

Choice