hist273-chicago depression power point

8/3/2019 Hist273-Chicago Depression Power Point

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Chicago in the 1930s

The Great Migration

y 1910-1930- The First Great Migration brought over

800,000 African Americans from the southern states

to northern states.

y This is over 1/10 of the nations entire African

American population. http://www.myblackjourney.com/the-great-migration

The Great Migration cont.

http://www.epals.com/projects/info.aspx?divid=diaspora

The Great Migration cont.

y The Great Migration

came north and followed

the railroad lines.

y African Americans came

especially fromMississippi, Alabama,

and Tennessee.

AfricanAmericans arriving at Union Stahttp://www.myblackjourney.com/the-great-migration


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PUSH Factors

y Stuck in cyclical debt due to share cropping.

y Jim Crow laws of segregation and racial violence

which included the KKK.

y Lack of opportunity.

(Barrett, 10/31)

http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/kkk1.html

PULL Factors

y War productions during WWI caused an explosion

of industry and available jobs.

y Decline of foreign immigration.

y The desire for the Betterment of the Race

y Some employers sent train tickets for prospective

employees.(Barrett, 10/31)

The Chicago Defender

y Essentially a national Black newspaper.

y Distributed in the south by Black rail road workers.

y Catalyst for many people moving to the north

because it encouraged people to leave theS

outh.y African Americans living throughout the South

would write letters to the Chicago Defender seeking

help during their relocation.

Sample Letter

Alexandria ,La., 4/23/1911

Gentlemens:

Just a word of information I am planning to leave this place on about

May llth for Chicago and wants ask you assistence in getting a

job. My job for the past 8 years has been in the Armour Packing Co.

of this place and I cand do anything to be done in a branch house and

are now doing the smoking here I am 36 years old have a wife and 2

children. I has been here all my life but would be glad to go wher I

can educate my children where they can be of service to themselves,

and this will never be here. Now if you can get a job with eny of the

packers I will just as soon as I arrive in your city come to your pace

and pay you for your troubel. And if I cant get on with packers I will

try enything that you have to effer. http://condor.depaul.edu/chicago/primary_sources/letters1.html


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Sample Letter, II

HOUSTON,TX,

1917

DearSirs

I am a reader of the Chicago Defender and I seen where

you are in need of men and are also in the position for

firms to seek you. I see where you are in the line of

work for the betterment of the race.

Sample Letter III

PascoqoulaMiss,April 8, 1917

y Dear Sirs:

As you have charge of the Urban League, I want toknow if the League can locate work for about 8 or10 men. We are all middle-aged men and wouldlike to have our faires paid and deducted form our

wages.We will work in any small town in Illinois. All of

these men are property owners and have largefamilies. Well leave families till later on. Any good

you can do for us will be highly appreciated.

Activity

1. Take out a sheet of paper.

2. Choose one of the Migrant letters. On thepaper, Identify any Push or Pull factors that

appear.

3. If you cannot identify any concrete factors useyour background information to come-upwith possible ideas.

y I will collect this at the end of class, it will beyour Ticket-out-the-door.

Native Son

y Bigger moved to Chicago from Mississippi during

the Great Migration.

y We see that conditions are not always substantially

better in the North.

y Why do you think Bigger and his family moved to

Chicago? Look at the PUSH & PULL factors.


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1920s Prosperity

y Chicago and the restof the nationexperienced

prosperity andeconomic growthduring the interwar

period.

y Cultural boom of

leisure andrecreation and newmusic such as jazz.

The Great Depression

y October 1929-The Stock market abruptly

crashed sending the country into a severe

depression.

y Workers lost their jobs at a staggering rate.

y Hardest hit was manufacturing, a major source

of employment in Chicago.

y Only 50 percent of the Chicagoans who had

worked in the manufacturing sector in 1927 were

still working there in 1933. http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/542.html

The Great Depression cont.

y Workers of color were

especially affected.

y African Americans were

the last hired and first

fired.y People lined up for

charitable giving of

bread and food.

The Depression in Native Son

y Biggers family was on public aid.

y Bigger and his friends would resort to crime inorder to make money. This was shown by the

planned robbery of Blums store and thediscussion of other robberies that they hadactually carried out.

y Biggers mother pestered him about the job atthe Daltons because a job like that was rare.


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What is wrong with this picture?

http://disasterandemergencysurvival.com/archives/food-crisis-2009

hist273-chicago depression power point

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