The Great Migration of African Americans out of the South between 1910 and 1970 was one of the most dynamic and prolific social and cultural times in America’s history.
Professor Carla J. DuBose-Simons will explore the reasons for this mass exodus and the resulting explosion of art, music and literature chronicling and celebrating this period. Over the course of two days, participants will explore the effects of this massive migration from rural areas and the changing energy of cities in which they settled as groundbreaking cultural, political, and social shifts began to establish the metropolitan areas we know today.
Participants can expect to come away from the course with a greater understanding of the forces of Southern segregation that set the Great Migration in motion, the economic opportunity that migrants sought and the racial discrimination that they faced in Northern cities when they arrived, the formation of the Harlem Renaissance and Black Arts movement and much more. Moreover, participants will also gain a greater understanding of the growth of American cities in the 20th century, particularly New York, and how the Great Migration continues to affect us to this day. Join us and learn about this crucial era of American history.
12-12:55 pm: The Great Migration: World War I, the Boll Weevil, New York City, and the Harlem Renaissance Break or option to join discussion group 1:20-2:15 pm: Racial conflict, The Great Depression, and World War II
12-12:55 pm: The Second Great Migration, Civil Rights, and the Urban Crisis Break or option to join discussion group 1:20-2:15 pm: Reverse Migration and the evolution of the Democratic Party
This class will be recorded for later viewing by patrons.
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Carla J. DuBose-Simons is an Instructor of History in the Humanities Department at Westchester Community College where she teaches colonial American, 20th Century American, and African-American history …
Carla J. DuBose-Simons is an Instructor of History in the Humanities Department at Westchester Community College where she teaches colonial American, 20th Century American, and African-American history. She earned her doctorate in American History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in February, 2013. Her dissertation entitled The ‘Silent Arrival’: The second wave of the Great Migration and its affects on black New York, 1940-1950 examines the demographic, economic, and social effects of the World War II migration of southern blacks to New York City. The dissertation maps areas of black settlement in the city, explains the process by which blacks found employment, analyzes early civil rights activism in the city, and explores the expansion of black settlement beyond the boundaries of Harlem.
Her research interests include New York City history, African American history, and the history of community formation. She is the author of “Fighting Against Jim Crow Hiring” in The Economic Civil Rights Movement: African Americans and the Struggle for Economic Power which was published by Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group in 2013. Dr. DuBose-Simons’ latest article on black settlement in the South Bronx “Movin’ on Up: African Americans in the South Bronx in the 1940s” was published in the Fall 2014 issue of the New York State Historical Association’s quarterly journal New York History. She also serves as Assistant Editor of the Ethnic Students Review, University of California Press.
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