How to Teach a Lesson on the Great Migration North
Every day for two years nearly 500 Americans boarded trains in the South and headed for the North; this intriguing fact provides a natural springboard for a lesson on the Great Migration. Answering the question of why that huge movement of people took place is a way to draw students into the subject. To hold their interest in studying the Great Migration, teachers might consider taking a cross-curricular approach, integrating art, history, geography and literature into the lesson.
Things You'll Need
- Blank maps of the United States
- Colored pencils or markers
- Copy of "Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North" or other young-adult novel on the Great Migration
Instructions
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Begin a discussion by asking the following questions: "What is migration?" and "Why would people migrate?" The answers kids will come up with for the first question will most likely have to do with birds migrating south for the winter. Then suggest that for people migration can also mean survival, or at least a better life. Explain that in 1916 the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. brought Southern black men north to work on the railway lines. Explain that encouraged by the prospect of work and better living conditions, over 400,000 African-Americans traveled to the North.
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Provide students with blank maps of the United States that display dividing lines of the states. Help students label the states involved and draw lines representing the various routes of the Great Migration. Also ask students to color in the states from which the African-Americans came, and to use another color to designate the states to which most of them traveled.
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Give students an opportunity to see both photographs and illustrations depicting the Great Migration. The artist Jacob Lawrence created a series of colorful and detailed paintings based on the movement. Black-and-white photographs from the period will provide students with an opportunity to see actual pictures of people and places of the Great Migration.
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Choose a book that fictionalizes the story of the Great Migration from the viewpoint of a child or young adult and summarize it for students. One effective choice is Patricia C. McKissack's novel for young people, "Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North," which tells of a family's move to Chicago, Nellie's experiences there, and her responses to the prejudice she finds in the North. Read selected passages aloud and discuss with students.
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Give students copies of letters written by African-Americans in the South to the "Chicago Defender," a black newspaper. Ask students to write a summary of the letters, giving an overview of both what the letters show that people hoped for in moving north, and what problems about the move most concerned them.
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