Exodus from Dixie: The Great Migration as a Social Movement
Details
Presenter
Dr. Davarian Baldwin, Trinity College
Date & Time
January 24, 2024 7:30 pm Eastern
Category
African American History, Civil Rights, Migration History
Tags
Author Talk
Description
Between 1915 and 1930 over 1.5 million African Americans fled the U.S. south for northern and western cities locales. Just ten years later, another six million would begin the same trek in search of a better life. This epic migration literally changed the complexion of America. But why did it take place? Standard accounts mark the closing off of European migration during World War I and the need for industrial labor. However, by listening to the voices, hearing the songs, and viewing the artwork of actual migrants uncovers a different story. The Great Migration was not simply a response to economic forces; these migrants were “quitting the south.”
Tracing the lives of migrants reveals the Great Migration as a social movement, what many called an “Exodus from Dixie.” And yet, upon entering the urban north and west, the American Dream remained elusive. The liberties of walking tall, voting in elections, and working on integrated shop floors came with the price of racially restrictive neighborhoods, firebombings and race riots, and unfair policing and hiring practices. Following the path of southern migrants in search of a better life, with its twists and detours, speaks to the hopes and limits of the American Dream for us all.
Davarian L. Baldwin is an internationally recognized scholar, author, and public advocate. He is the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies and founding director of the Smart Cities Lab at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Baldwin is the award-winning author of several books, including Chicago’s New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (2007) and worked as the consultant and text author for The World of the Harlem Renaissance: A Jigsaw Puzzle (2022). In addition to teaching and writing, he is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. Baldwin’s commentaries and opinions have been featured in numerous outlets from NBC News, BBC, and HULU to USA Today, the Washington Post, and TIME magazine. He was named a 2022 Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation for his work.
