Laura Gougeon, Eva Linden, Edman Wong, Quinn Calkins

Professor Anmarie Trimble

Power and Imagination
January 24th, 2016
The Great Southern Migration
The primary reason minorities migrate is in hopes of escaping oppression. Although
racism was, and remains to be, inescapable, Northern America was considered to be more
politically liberal when it came to the issue of race-based human enslavement. It advertised a
more promising life for Black people. However, no matter where they went, Black people still
faced the same problems. Legal slavery may have been abolished, but racism and segregation
certainly was not. Legal measures such as the Separate but equal doctrine allowed statesponsored segregation of services, facilities, public accommodations, housing, medical care,
education, employment, and transportation; provided that the quality was equal, of course. Not
surprisingly, facilities designated for Black people were of the lowest possible quality while
white facilities remained top-tier. White people continued to refuse service and employment to
Black people, and faced no repercussions for their actions. After all, nothing that white people
did to Black people was actually breaking the law, because Black people were not protected
under the law. As mentioned before, Black people were extremely limited in many respects,
including their careers. They had very unpleasant and grueling low-wage jobs. After they all lost
their jobs as slaves, it was all they could get. Getting a job and remaining employed while
Black was difficult enough, not to mention the fact that promotion was out of the question. Black
people were trapped in every aspect; socially, economically, politically, and physically. There
were violent race riots and terrible lynchings no matter where Black people turned. Some of the

worst racial violence occurred in the North. Black people were desperate for a chance of having
something even slightly better than what they were accustomed to, and thats exactly what the
North was propagating.
The Emancipation Proclamation promised the downfall of the slave labor based economy,
which subsequently resulted in Black people losing their only jobs. Although some were lucky
enough to purchase land, most were tenant farmers, and sharecroppers who could barely survive.
Upon the declaration of World War I, a huge demand for factory workers arose in the North, thus
resulting in hundreds of thousands of Black people migrating. Approximately 5 million white
men had left to fight in the war, leaving their job positions open and waiting to be filled for
cheaper pay.
Conditioned power is the most prominent form of power used during the Great
Migration, it is exercised by the change of belief, persuasion, education, or social commitment to
what seems natural or right. More simply defined as, brainwashing. The choice to leave the
South for many was made independently, by their yearning to create a better future for
themselves and their families But the advertisement and appeal to make this decision was
substantially swayed in the interest of the Europeans. Rumors spread about plentiful jobs above
the Mason-Dixon Line, labor agents stood on the corners of streets advertising life in the north. It
was hung on billboards, printed on newspapers. It was impossible to escape the appealing
propaganda. As African Americans began settling in the North, word began to spread within the
community that the promised dream land was not what it had been made out to be. Racism
was still very much present in the North, much to the contradiction of the tone of many of the ads
calling for Black workers. The traditional power of whites presiding over Black people was so
deeply ingrained, as well as physically enforced, in the population that defiance was out of the

question. Traditional power feels secure, as it is seen as habit. Where institutions linger, the
injustices are approved by traditional old customs, and power is won effortlessly.
After the Great Southern migration, the African American community have assimilated
with the dominant (white) society in some aspects as well as preserved their own culture. As
Black people migrated to the North they were intrigued to new types of creativity. One of the
most iconic results of the great southern migration was the Harlem Renaissance, which was a
cultural center for all Black artists, from writers, to musicians, photographers, and so on. The
Harlem Renaissance was a way for the African American community to preserve their culture.
On the other hand, Black people were forced to give up aspects of their culture in order to stay
safe and alive. There was, of course, no definitive way to eliminate all risk of getting beaten,
harassed, or lynched, but a method of protection that many Black people employed was acting
white. This was by no means an easy transition. This is one of the reasons why the NAACP and
UNIA were created. The NAACP, or National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People, was created to stop prejudice towards and segregation of Black people. While the UNIA,
or United Negro Improvement Association, was formed in an attempt to help heal some of the
damaging self-views many Black people had developed for themselves as well as increase their
self-sufficiency. These two associations offered resources for Black people as they struggled to
assimilate for their own safety, and there was no organization that was designated to preserve
their culture. This was acceptable because Black culture was not viewed as legitimate, or worth
the effort of preserving. Even Black people themselves complied with the apparent push for
abandoning it in hopes of the harassment becoming more bearable.

Works Cited
Early, Gerald. "Black Migration." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.

"Great Migration, The (1915-1960) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed." Great
Migration, The (1915-1960) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. N.p., n.d.
Web. 24 Jan. 2016.

History.com Staff. "Great Migration." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 25
Jan. 2016.

"Jim Crow and the Great Migration." Jim Crow and the Great Migration. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan.
2016.

Mitchell, Angeyln. "African American Review." Rev. of The Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1940:
The Critics and the Harlem Renaissance. Review 32.3 (1998): 495-97. Print.

Power, a New Social Analysis. New York: W.W. Norton, 1938. N. pag. Print.

The Anatomy of Power. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. N. pag. Print.