Curated OER
Migration: An African American Adventure
Learners read the book, The Great Migration by National Geographic, then complete this set of related worksheets. They review vocabulary, complete five short answer questions, discuss push and pull factors for the migration, then write a...
Stanford University
Chicago Race Riots of 1919
Learners explore the Chicago Race Riots of 1919. In this American history lesson, students watch the move "Up South" regarding the African American migration following World War I. Learners read primary documents regarding the race riots...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Freedom, Making of African American Identity: V. 2, 1865 1917
Sixteen primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, visual images, and audio material-that explore African American perceptions of freedom from Emancipation to the early-twentieth century.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Volume Iii, 1917 1968: Migrations
Collection of 11 primary resources exploring the migrations made by African Americans in the 20th Century and the effects they had. Includes text links, notes and questions for discussion.
University of Chicago
University of Chicago Library: The Great Migration
Read about the African American migration north in the early 20th Century through a collection of migrant letters and a lecture by scholar James Grossman.
New York Public Library
African American Migration Experience: The Northern Migration
This article explores the reasons African Americans left the South and migrated north both before and after the Civil War, and many aspects of what their lives were like.
Other
Tsu: The Progressive Era and World War I
A comprehensive outline covering the major ideas, leaders, and actions of the Progressive Era and the transformation of the United States as a result of World War I.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Fatal Flood
This resource is a companion site to a documentary about a major flooding of the Mississippi River in 1927, where in Greenville, Mississippi, efforts to contain the river pitted the majority black population against an aristocratic...
Nebraska Studies
Nebraska Studies: African American Settlers
This presents an overview of African Americans moving and settling in the West.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Forward:1917
Letters, an article, a pamphlet, and a song that point to greater black migration from the South and black cultural achievements in the twentieth century. The texts examines how migrations north affected the relationships of African...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Migrations: Negro Migration During War
An analysis of the reasons why blacks moved north around the time of World War I. An article by Emmett J. Scott (1873-1957), who for a time served as Booker T. Washington's personal secretary, is linked to this resource.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Writing for Help, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
Letters by African Americans seeking help to leave the South. They explore issues including identity, family, community, and the struggles induced by the need to migrate north.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Old Timers, Newcomers
An editorial cartoon and a newspaper article illustrating the tensions between members of established African American communities in the North and Southern migrants. Links to both resources are provided within this site.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Leaving, but Staying
Accounts of African American migrations from the rural South to Southern cities. This resource provides not just accounts of the Great Migration focusing on the flight from the South to the North, but also the migration within the South...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: New Consciousness
Alain Locke's essay, "Enter the New Negro," is provided within this site and describes a new African American sense of self, inspired by migration to the urban North.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Painting the Migration
Paintings by Jacob Lawrence titled, "The Migration of the Negro", a series of sixty paintings, illustrates the migration of African Americans to the North in the twentieth century. A link to this artwork can be found within this summary.
New York Public Library
In Motion: The African American Migration Experience
A look at the migration of the African American people. The site includes images, texts, maps, and timeline.
New York Public Library
In Motion: The Land Promised Lesson Plan: African American Homesteaders
The narrative, The Western Migration, features African Americans with agricultural backgrounds who migrated west following the Civil War and availed themselves of the opportunity to homestead. The Land Promised is designed for use in...
Library of Congress
Loc: African American Mosaic: Black History and Culture
Online version of a Library of Congress exhibit, covering information about black history, including colonization, abolition, migrations, and the WPA. It is multimedia and contains hundreds of primary source documents.
Chicago History Museum
Encyclopedia of Chicago: Great Migration
Read this historical account of events that became known as the Great Migration, the movement of African Americans from the South to the North, and the effect this had on Chicago and other urban northern cities.
Library of Congress
Loc: African American Mosaic: Western Migration and Homesteading
Contains text and photos on the African-American exodus to the West. Includes primary source documents and maps from the era.
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: The Great Migration
This collection uses primary sources to explore the Great Migration of African Americans to the Northern and Midwestern states in the early 1900s. Set includes an overview, primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide.