Our Negro problem, therefore, is not of the Negro’s making. No group in our population is less responsible for its existence. But every group is responsible for its continuance.… Both races need to understand that their rights and duties are mutual and equal and their interests in the common good are identical.… There is no help or healing in appraising past responsibilities or in present apportioning of praise or blame. The past is of value only as it aids in understanding the present; and an understanding of the facts of the problem—a magnanimous understanding by both races—is the first step toward its solution.
AFTERWORD
Ida Mae Gladney died peacefully in her sleep after a brief onset of leukemia in September 2004. Her family was so distraught that her children and grandchildren kept her room precisely as it was for years. The door remained closed in memoriam to her, and no one had the heart or strength to touch it.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is the culmination of many years of research and distillation and could not have come to be without the faith and encouragement of critical people and institutions at crucial moments in its gestation.
I wish first to express gratitude for my parents—my mother and my late father, who gave me my earliest understanding of the Great Migration through their lives and experiences and through what they passed on to me, and who were the inspiration for what I did not know was possible when I first began pursuing the idea.
Thank you to the people who helped to create the groundwork necessary for my intuitions to become a reality: Denise Stinson, who believed in the book from the start, and Michael Winston, for his wise counsel.
I wish to thank my editors at Random House—Ann Godoff, who acquired it, Jonathan Karp, who cheered it on, and, most of all, Kate Medina, who embraced it, championed it, and brought it into the world. I also benefited from the support and insights of Lindsey Schwoeri, Millicent Bennett, Jonathan Jao, Amelia Zalcman, Sally Marvin, Carol Schneider, London King, Ashley Gratz-Collier, and Steve Messina and his team, among many others at Random House. Thank you ever so much.
During the course of the research, I was fortunate to have been able to rely on support from a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation; an Edith Kreeger Wolf endowed lectureship at Northwestern University; a semester as Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University; and various lectures and seminars I delivered at such places as Brown University, the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, the narrative journalism conference in Aarhus, Denmark, the University of Nevada at Reno, the University of Mississippi at Oxford, and, for three years, as the James M. Cox Professor of Journalism at Emory University. I am grateful to Boston University, where I now am on faculty, for its role in promoting narrative nonfiction such as this book and for the support of David Campbell, Thomas Fiedler, Louis Ureneck, Mitchell Zuckoff, Robert Manoff, Richard Lehr, Robert Zelnik, Caryl Rivers, Safoura Rafeizadeh, and James Brann.
I was on leave from The New York Times for much of the time I was researching the book with the good wishes of three executive editors, Bill Keller, Joseph Lelyveld, and Howell Raines, who showed patience and understanding as I pursued this calling, as well as the good cheer of Soma Golden Behr.
This has been a personal journey that, due to the nature of the work and the loss of the primary subjects, transformed me out of necessity from journalist to unintended historian. I am grateful for the insights of historians who have made rigorous examination of the American past, particularly of the Jim Crow era, their life’s work. In particular, I wish to thank Leon Litwack, who shared with me his wisdom and made sure I left Berkeley with the books I needed from his favorite used book store, the old Cody’s near campus.
Beyond these, I thank God for the will and fortitude to make it through this journey. But also for their encouragement at critical moments, I am grateful to Alex Reid, Jonathan Schwartz, Rick Jones, Gwendolyn Whitt, Fannye Jolly, Michael Elliston, D. J. Page, D. M. Page, Laleh Khadivi, Pat Harris, Marcia Lythcott, Debora Ott, and, for their belief in me over the years, Frances Ball, Gladys Pemberton, Beatrice Judge, Lawrence Kaggwa, Ronald Richardson, and the Taylor family of Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. Thank you to Eva Harvey, Robert K. Watts, and Joseph Beck for sharing their memories of the Jim Crow South; and my sincerest gratitude to those who assisted in the research: Christine Savage in the final throes of production, Christine Li, Emily Truax, Sarah Stanton, and, especially, Kathryn Wilson for her hard work in the early years of the project.
I am deeply grateful for the time and contributions of the more than twelve hundred people who shared their stories in preliminary interviews in the first year and a half of the research and whose experiences, while not explicitly cited in the text, helped shape its direction. They were my initial teachers in the world of Jim Crow and the unseen chorus that validated the final narrative. For going out of their way to help identify people who had migrated from the South as they had done, I am grateful for the kindness shown me by Wilks Battle, Bennie Lee Ford, Aline Heisser-Ovid, and, especially, Almeta Washington.
I wish to thank the subjects’ families for allowing me into their lives and entrusting me with their loved ones on trips both long and short that we made to the places they worked and lived and, for two of them, back to the Old Country. In particular, I want to thank Eleanor Smiley, James and Mary Ann Gladney, Karen Smiley, Kevin Smiley, Madison James Foster II, Bunny Fisher, Joy Foster, and Patricia George for their warmth and encouragement, and Amjad “Kenny” Mujaahid for his inspiring letters of support.
Finally, I reserve the greatest measure of gratitude for Ida Mae Gladney, George Swanson Starling, and Robert Pershing Foster, the people who gave so much of themselves to a book they would never see. They believed in me and in this project perhaps more than anyone else, perhaps, at times, even more than I did. Their unfailing faith in this work carried me through when I doubted what was possible. Meeting and sharing with them their final years on this earth has been one of the great joys and honors of my life, and I have been inspired and made better for having known them.
ISABEL WILKERSON
June 2010
SELECTED INTERVIEWS AND SOURCES
CALIFORNIA
Dr. Robert P. Foster
Cathryn Covington Baker
Lee Ballard
Romie Banks
Mrs. J. M. Beard
Howard and Isabelle Beckwith
Pat Botchekan
Malissa Briley
Sylvester Brooks
Claire Collins
John Collins
Joseph Cooper
Ivorye Covington
Leo DeJohn
John Dunlap
Dallas Evans
Sherman Ferguson
Bennie Lee Ford
Joy Foster
Warren Hollingsworth
Jessie Holmes
Charles Honore
Marilyn Hudson
Robert Johnson
Carrie Jones
Limuary and Adeline Jordan
Barbara Lemmons
Marguerite Lewis
Nellie Lutcher
Carl Kendall
James Marshall
Leola McMearn
Cleo Pierre
John Rachal, Sr.
Vera Roberts
Della B. Robinson
De Willow Sherman
Reatha Gray Simon
Reatha Beck Smith
Ida Bryant Spigener
Barbara Starks
Ruby Thomas
Melba Thompson
Almeta Washington
Inette Weasel
Betty S. White
FLORIDA
Reuben Blye
Viola Dunham
Watson Dunham
Cleave Frink
Patricia George
Reverend William Hawkins
Andrew “Jack” Johnson
Carla Mitchell
Virginia Sallet
GEORGIA
Joseph Beck
&nbs
p; Sharon Seay
James C. Washington
ILLINOIS
Ida Mae Brandon Gladney
Laura Addison
Ruby Barnes
Wilks Battle
Bessie Baugard
Homer Betts
Erma Bien-Aimee
Marie Billingsley
Barbara Bowman
Isiah Bracy
Albert Brooks
George Brown
Joe L. Brown
Herbert Bruce
Albert Sidney Burchett
Tony Burroughs
Florine Burton
Betty Caldwell
Orlando Campbell
Joseph Chapman
James Clark
Elwood Crowder
Austin Cunningham
Grady Davis
Henrietta Dawson
John Harold Earl
Arthur Ellis
Lisa Ely
Mildred Elzie
Eddie Ervin
Robert David Fields
Bunny Fisher
Myrtis Francis
Lasalle Frelix
Phlenoid Gaiter
James and Mary Ann Gladney
Walter Goudy
Ruth Hamilton
Aaron Henderson
Leon “Jack” Hillman
James Hobbs
Spurgeon Holland
Karyne Islam
Urelle Jackson, Sr.
Isabel Joseph Johnson
Willie Johnson
Lola Jones
Spencer Leak
Emma Leonard
Clinton Lewis
Hollis Lewis
Carl Little
Ruth McClendon
Doris McMurray
Charles Mingo
Irene Nelson
Clara Piper
Raymar Pitchfork
Robena Porter
Robert Pulliam
Edna Robertson
William G. Samuels
James Seahorn
Eleanor Smiley
Karen Smiley
Kevin Smiley
Coy F. Smith
Ruby W. McGowan Mays Smith
Laura Starks
Howard Stephenson
Roma Stewart
Bennie Therrell
Riley Tubbs
John Valson
Mamie Westley
Mary Louise Wiley
Delores Woodtor
LOUISIANA
Joella Burton
Madison James Foster II
Faroker Johnson
Clara Poe
B. D. Robinson
Rosalie Taylor
Florence Todd
Clyde Walker
MISSISSIPPI
Marcelle Barr
Doretta Boston
Gilbert Elie
Aubrey Enochs
Gloria Enochs
Jessie Gladney
Isolena Harris
David McIntosh
NEW YORK
George Swanson Starling
Dees Abraham
Nathaniel M. Baker
Maxie Broughton
Bennie Brown
Gary Byrd
Franklin Caldwell
John Carter
Christine Chambers
Virginia DeBreaux Hall
Petite Bell Hammond
Reverend Henry V. Harrison
James Hobbs
Clarence Jerrell
Julia Johnson
Gardenia Joyner
Aurilla Moore
Ulysses Morris
Amjad “Kenny” Mujaahid
Onie Bell Carter Norwood
Donald Payne
Delphine Smith Peterman
Henry Roberts
Ruth Rudder
Jerry Ward
Robert K. Watts
Monifa White
Manier E. Webber
Eva Mae Williams
TENNESSEE
Richard Jarvis Enochs
WISCONSIN
Jerome Hervey
Freddie Knox
Manley Thomas
PARTIAL LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS THAT OFFERED SUPPORT AND ACCESS TO MIGRANTS
CALIFORNIA
Betty Hill Recreation Center, Senior Line Dancing
East Texas Club of Los Angeles
Estelle Van Meter Senior Center
Grambling Alumni Association, Los Angeles
Independent Square Senior Center
Jefferson Council
Jim Gilliam Senior Center
Lake Charles, Louisiana, Club
LA–LA (Louisiana to Los Angeles), Inc.
Monroe, Louisiana, Club
Mount Carmel Senior Center
People Coordinated Services
St. Andrew’s Senior Group
St. Bernadette Senior Center
Slauson Senior Recreation Center
Theresa Lindsay Senior Center
Vineyard Recreation Senior Center
Watts Senior Center
Xavier College Alumni Club of Los Angeles
FLORIDA
Gethsemane Baptist Church, Eustis
NAACP, South Brevard Chapter
GEORGIA
National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association
ILLINOIS
Ada S. Niles Senior Center
African-American Police League
Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago
AFSCME, Chicago District Council
Atlas Senior Center, Chicago Area Agency on Aging
Bethel Terrace Senior Center
Brookhaven, Mississippi, Club
Carter Funeral Home
Chicago Housing Authority Senior Housing
Chicago Pensioners Club
Chicago Urban League
Chicago Usher Board
Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Club
DuSable High School
Fourth District, Beat 414, South Chicago
Greater St. John’s AME Church
Greenville, Mississippi, Club
Greenwood, Mississippi, Club
Grenada, Mississippi, Club
Happy Action Seniors, St. Joachim Church
Historic Pullman Foundation
Latney Funeral Home
Leak and Sons Funeral Home
Local 241/Chicago Transit Authority Bus Drivers Union
Metro Seniors in Action
National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees, Chicago Branch, Retirees’ Division
Neptune Seniors
Newton, Mississippi, Club
Old Friends of Chicago
Pastors of Englewood, Seventh District
Police Beat 713, Boulevard Arts Center
Prince Hall Masonic Lodge of the State of Illinois
Senior Advisory Committee, Third District
Senior Advisory Committee, Fourth District
Senior Steppers’ Set at Mr. G’s
Tabernacle Baptist Church
Third District, Beat 312, Grand Crossing
Third District, Beat 322, Grand Crossing
Third District, Beat 323, Grand Crossing
UBA A. Philip Randolph Center
Vicksburg, Mississippi, Club
Willa Rawls Manor
WBEZ-FM
WGCI-AM
WVON-AM
NEW YORK
African American Quilting Club, Brooklyn
Baptist House of Prayer, Harlem
Bridge Street Baptist Church, Brooklyn
Central Harlem Senior Center
First Baptist Church, Brooklyn
Lagree Baptist Church, Harlem
Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Harlem
New York City Department of Aging
Wilson Major Morris Senior Center, Harlem
WLIB-AM
NOTES
1 I was leaving the South: Richard Wright, Black Boy (New York: HarperCollins, 1993, a reissue of Wright’s autobiography, originally published in 1945 by Harper and Brothers). This passage is from a l
ast-minute insertion in a restructuring of the book, which originally had been titled American Hunger. For its release in 1945, the title was changed to Black Boy and the second half of the book, describing Wright’s adjustment in the North, was deleted at the behest of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Wright chose to insert this passage as a compromise ending to the revised autobiography. Because this passage was not part of the original manuscript, it is not included in the text of the modern-day version. The passage instead appears in the footnotes of the 1993 reprint, p. 496.
PART I: IN THE LAND OF THE FOREFATHERS
1 Our mattresses were made: Mahalia Jackson with Evan McLeod Wylie, Movin’ On Up (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1966), pp. 22, 25.
LEAVING
2 The land is first: David L. Cohn, God Shakes Creation (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1935), pp. 32, 33.
3 They fly from the land: W. H. Stillwell, “Exode,” Chicago Inter-Ocean, March 12, 1881. The stanza reads: “They fly from the land that bore them, as the Hebrews fled the Nile; from the heavy burthens [sic] o’er them; from unpaid tasks before them; from a serfdom base and vile.”
4 A man named Roscoe Colton: Jonathan Rosen, “Flight Patterns,” The New York Times Magazine, April 22, 2007, pp. 58–63.
THE GREAT MIGRATION, 1915–1970
5 In our homes: “The Negro Problem,” Independent 54: 2221. The colored Alabama woman interviewed for this 1902 article requested that her name not be used, fearing retribution for expressing a desire to leave. The fear of being identified was common among southern black letter writers to the Chicago Defender inquiring about opportunities in the North and others discussing or considering migration. Often they explicitly pleaded that their identities not be revealed.
6 “They left as though”: Emmett J. Scott, Negro Migration During the War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1920), p. 44.
7 Over the course: Estimates vary for the number of blacks who left the South during the Great Migration. Some have put the number at well over six million. The historian Jeffrey S. Adler writes that “the total for the three-decade period after 1940 exceeded 4.3 million” alone. David R. Colburn and Jeffrey S. Adler, eds., African-American Mayors: Race, Politics, and the American City (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001), p. 4. Definitions vary as to which states make up the South, with the border states of Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia often included. This book uses a definition based on the states that made up the Confederacy and the definitions and perceptions of the migrants who left the South. The migrants’ decision to escape to those border regions and those states’ participation in the Civil War on the Union side suggest that politically, psychologically, and demographically they were not southern but rather part of the North to which the migrants fled. Those states had net inflows of blacks in a dramatic departure from the states the migrants perceived of as the South. The estimate, just over five and a half million, used in this book is a conservative one and derives from data compiled from Public Use Micro-data Sample (PUMS) Tapes of U.S. Census figures for out-migration of African Americans from the former Confederate states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, along with Kentucky and Oklahoma, to the former Union states that attracted the bulk of the migrants, namely, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, California, Nevada, Oregon, and the District of Columbia, along with the border states of Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri and the state of Washington, which was not admitted to the Union until after the Civil War. The number is considered to be an underestimate. “One estimate places the net under-enumeration of Negro males [alone] at about 20 per cent,” wrote the sociologists Karl E. Taeuber and Alma F. Taeuber in “The Changing Character of Negro Migration,” The American Journal of Sociology 70, no. 4 (January 1965), p. 433.
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