How the Great Migration Changed America [TTC Audio]

During the Great Migration, Black Americans led a mass exodus out of the South. But not all that glittered in the imagination was gold in the real world across the Mason-Dixon line. Migrant communities stretching from Harlem in the North to Los Angeles in the West faced hostile neighborhood associations, redlining, and outright violence. They contended with dim economic prospects and sparred with white labor unions. They also struggled to assimilate into established Black communities. Nevertheless, these 6 million Black migrants left an indelible mark on life in the United States. The culture and politics that emerged out of destination cities—a mix of Southern sensibilities and Northern experiences, a fusion of horror and resilience—changed the course of US history.

How the Great Migration Changed America explores the causes and consequences of the Great Northward Migration in 12 eye-opening lectures led by your expert guide Davarian Baldwin, the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity College. A prolific scholar and the child of Black migrants himself, Professor Baldwin understands the importance of this mass movement from an academic and personal perspective. His viewpoint is rich with responsibility, understanding, and attention to detail.

With Professor Baldwin at the forefront, you will:

• Evaluate—and debunk—stubborn Great Migration myths;
• Survey the economic, political, and social landscape in the South at the turn of the century;
• Examine the lure of northern living, from economic and industrial opportunity to self-preservation;
• Become familiar with complicated personalities who built Black neighborhoods, business empires, and sporting leagues from the bottom up;
• Tour Chicago’s South Side and New York City’s Harlem neighborhoods, surveying the storied institutions that gave each city its flavor;
• Study the cultural effects of migration, from the rise of gospel music to the dawn of the zoot suit; and
• Explore the ideas—some mainstream, others radical—that emerged out of the Black migrant experience.

How the Great Migration Changed America will help you build a deeper and more nuanced understanding of not only the past, but also its complicated legacies in the present, as well.