ENG3U
Reading & Literature: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Note-Taking Activity
Section 5: the NAACP, Great Migration & Harlem
Renaissance
Instructions:
Take notes on the information presented in the handout. You will have _________ to
complete these notes. At the end of this time, the handout will be collected from you.
NOTE: make sure you record the title and source information of passages accurately.
The Great Migration, The NAACP, the Harlem Renaissance
The Great Migration
The Great Migration has been explained as “the movement of the Black Belt from the South to the
North.” This definition oversimplifies things somewhat- there remained large numbers of African
Americans in the South- but it captures the general idea, namely that hundred of thousands of African
Americans left the South for political, social and economic reasons. The first wave of migration
occurred in the 1870s , when large numbers of African Americans migrated to Texas, Kansas, and
other western areas to escape the negative aspects of living in the Deep South. Another quartet of a
million African Americans moved to the North between 1890 and 1910, while about 35,000 moved to
the Far west (California, Colorado, and so on). Some people think of these population movements as a
precursor to the Great Migration itself.
The departures increased dramatically in the years 1914-1929, the period generally assigned to the
Great Migration. During these years between 300,000 and 1,000,000 others resettled in the North. In
fact, what happened in the years between 1914 and 1929 laid the groundwork for a pattern that
would continue for much of the century. African American migration from the South remained strong
through the 1960s, except during the Great Depression, when the trend slowed for a time.
...
The African Americans who left their homes during these years hoped to find better jobs and a new
sense of actual, as opposed to theoretical citizenship. They were searching for natural human
freedoms for themselves, their families, and their new communities in the North.
from
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to African American History (87-88)
* (record the title only)
The Founding of the NAACP (commonly pronounced N double A C P)
In 1905, DuBois and William Munroe Trotter founded a group that came to be known as the Niagara
Movement (so named because the group had been convened at an organizational meeting held near
Niagara Falls.) It was dedicated to the abolition of all racially discriminatory practices in the United
States.
Three years later, following a race riot in Springfield, Illinois, DuBois’ group of African American
intellectuals decided to broaden their movement. They began reaching out to a number of like-minded
whites, and eventually launched- on February 12, 1909, the one- hundredth anniversary of Abraham
Lincoln’s birth- a new organization decided to promoting racial equality, opposing segregation, and
seeking justice for those who perpetrated racially motivated violence.
They called their new group the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or
NAACP.
from: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to African American History
(record the title only)
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ENG3U
Reading & Literature: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Note-Taking Activity
Section 5: the NAACP, Great Migration & Harlem
Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
An incredible aura of confidence and creativity occurred in the northern cities as African Americans
journeyed to the urban areas in the 1920s. In New York city, the black population produced artists,
writers, musicians, orators, dramatists, and entertainers of such great talents and with so much
authenticity that the period was called, the Harlem Renaissance. In fact, this period in American
history was no only significant for the African American community but for the regeneration and
rejuvenation of the entire scope of American Art and entertainment. Lasting in the 1940s, the Harlem
Renaissance was localized in New York but its impact was far-ranging. Displaying the cultural and
creative abilities of the African American community, writers and artists from various parts of the
nation descended upon Harlem. Indeed, the name of the community was synonymous with all that
was best in the African American population. Small communities in many cities identified themselves
as Harlem. There were Harlem cookies, Harlem books, Harlem behaviors, and Harlem attitudes.
Harlem was in vogue. Around the world, people heard the name of Harlem and it was no longer the
Dutch city that people thought of but the American community made famous from the richness of its
culture.
The best of the poets , the jazz and blues classicists, the choreographers and dancers with something
new t o demonstrate, and the plastic artists and dramatists who wanted to show the world what the
African American had achieved in the art world since the Emancipation, came to this community by
the droves. This was an upbeat time, the people were optimistic, the rhetoric was visionary, and the
streets were lively. The literature of the period was varied and diverse. Langston Hughes and Zora
Neale Hurston would be the king and queen of the parade of excellence and their dynamic voices
would inspire numerous other poets and writers.
from: Historical and Cultural Atlas of African Americans
by Molefi K. Asante and Mark T. Mattson
record complete information
for complete source information, see attached photocopy
106755562
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