The Great Migrations is an emerging field of scholarship in African American
history, however, historians are divided on proper presentation of the subject. Two
works have become standards in the field and offer opposing interpretations of the four
mass movements of southern blacks. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African
Americans by John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Higginbotham recounts the Great
Migrations in traditional fashion as a beginning-to-end type of history. Franklin and
Higginbotham view the Great Migrations as isolated episodes within the narrative of
black history as a whole. The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations by
Ira Berlin employs a more direct focus on the Great Migrations and describes the
migrations as a constantly evolving event determined by factors of movement, place,
and “rootedness”. While it may be a matter of personal preference, the continued mass
movements of African Americans prove that the Berlin narrative is the correct viewpoint
to interpret the Great Migrations.
The difference between the Franklin and Higginbotham work and that of Berlin’s
is part of the “CNN effect”. David Lampton, director of Chinese studies at The Johns
Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, describes the CNN effect in his
monograph Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-Chinese Relations 19892000. Lampton opines that present day news coverage is split into two categories,
event-driven and trend stories.1 Event-driven news is based on powerful visuals and
instantaneous delivery of the news, allowing for little depth and typically are related in
the beginning-to-end style.2 Trend stories are more complex and evolve over time,
1
David Lampton. Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-Chinese Relations 1989-2000 (Berkley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 2001), 264.
2
Ibid.
sacrificing lasting visuals for intimacy and depth of the story.3 As more and more
Americans receive their news from television, the CNN effect has made the general
public less inclined to accept trend stories.4 An effect of event-driven stories is the
determination of the deliverance of the story by governments, markets, and
multinational organizations that control the characters and subplots instead of allowing
the viewer to interpret the facts themselves.5 Historical literature has also been
influenced by the CNN effect. Historians increasingly write history from an event-driven
narrative to appease the general public. Subjects are isolated and writers attempt to
create lasting images of isolated visuals, people, or events within the context of the time
and place of its happening. The ability to write history from a trend story point-of-view is
increasingly difficult to find success with, however, it a more suited way to interpret the
Great Migrations because of the ever evolving nature of the subject and that the
migrations have not yet met a final end.
The interpretations of the Great Migrations will be discussed within its effect on a
major online source, the historiography of African American literature, and reviews of
the authors. In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience, a research-based
website by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public
Library, uses a variety of primary source materials to describe African American mass
movements over time and gives special attention to the pervasive themes and ethnic
migrations. Current historiography of the Great Migrations will be examined in order to
present both works within the trends of black history as a whole and to determine the
3
Ibid.
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
4
current and future states of the field. Reviews of the works and other sources by the
peers of the authors will show scholarly reactions within the field and used to glean
perspectives of how other historians prefer the narrative of the Great Migrations to be
written.
In Motion
Online sources of historical information provide a new educational experience for
students. Websites are able to blend together articles, images, videos, and other media
to create a more comprehensive experience of historical events, people, and themes. In
Motion specifically focuses on the migration experience of African Americans and bases
each unit of study on a number of images, historical texts, and maps. 6 Howard Dodson,
Director of Moorland-Spingarn and Howard University Libraries, helped launch In
Motion and co-edits the site with Sylviane A. Diouf, a renowned award-winning historian
for her works in African American studies.7 The site examines thirteen different
episodes of black migrations in the United States (US) and currently cites four phases
that are in a continuing state.8 Investigation of the In Motion site is relevant in
determining the narrative of migrations in African American history as a new
comprehensive media site that attracts students and scholars alike. Although In Motion
displays elements of the Franklin and Higginbotham event-driven narrative, it is overall
a source in the Berlin trend story style because of its thematic approach and similarity of
the coverage of global migrations.
6
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “About This Site: Introduction,” In Motion: The AfricanAmerican Migration Experience, accessed April 28, 2013.
http://www.inmotionaame.org/about.cfm;jsessionid=f8302046271367788453820?bhcp=1.
7
Ibid.
8
“Migrations,” from In Motion, accessed April 28, 2013,
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/index.cfm;jsessionid=f830645741367936806849?bhcp=1.
A thematic approach fits the Berlin perspective because it disallows a beginningto-end narrative and encourages transformational legacies to further the subject. The
approach of towards a thematic narrative is best seen in “The Great Migrations” section
of the website. Many historians place the Great Migration within the time period of 1916
to 1930, however, this section considers these years to be the highlight of the first
migration and its themes as a catalyst for future movements.9 The section lists ten
subcategories of the movement and only one, “The Red Summer”, follows a Franklin
and Higginbotham approach of an event-driven narrative with a definitive conclusion to
the event.10 The thematic approach accounts for political, social, and economic changes
that did not have a specific beginning or end within the context of the Great Migration
but rather described as gradual factors of change in the same way that Berlin uses
movement and place to drive his narrative. In Motion describes economic motivation as
a main factor in various migrations and provides an excellent example with the boll
weevil effect on southern crops.11 After crop failure and individual financial hardship set
in, African American laborers left the South for greater economic opportunity.12 This
event became a narrative in the overall theme of using economic motivations to leaving
the South. The “Legacies” subsection shows that cultural changes brought by migrants
transformed into new movements.13 The legacies of the Great Migration led to the
Harlem Renaissance in the North and economic stability of jobs motivated other
9
“The Great Migration,” from In Motion, accessed April 28, 2013,
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=8&topic=1.
10
Ibid.
11
“Leaving the South” from “The Great Migrations,” from In Motion, accessed April 28, 2013,
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=8&topic=2&tab=image&bhcp=1.
12
Ibid.
13
“Legacies” from “The Great Migration,” from In Motion, accessed May 3, 2013,
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=8&topic=10.
migrants, fostering the further movement of the Second Great Migration. The thematic
approach by In Motion of the Great Migration is similar to Berlin’s trend story
interpretation by the creation of lasting effects over time using continual themes instead
of lasting images.
Each of the three sources covers the current migration, however, the In Motion
website more closely mirrors the Berlin narrative by using cultural trends instead of
isolated visuals to explore recent patterns. The current phase of migration focuses on
the arrival of peoples from African, Haiti, and the Caribbean in place of interregional
African American movement. As a product of the culture of the Civil Rights Movement of
the 1960s, Berlin states the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 helped spur the
movement to the US.14 He emphasizes the culture of the new migrants, not the number
of migrants and notes many of the new migrants desire to remain separated from being
identified as African Americans.15 Berlin states Haitians are known for displaying their
flag as an outward symbol of their culture and to be recognized as Haitian, not black.16
As a main part of his presentation, Berlin also investigates the role of hip-hop as a
unification effort of African Americans and the new black migrants.17 Rap music helped
create a medium of acceptance and returned peace among the migrant races.18 In
contrast, Franklin and Higginbotham use isolated images to describe the current
migration. The main, lasting image of their interpretation is a graphic detailing the
population of five Caribbean countries and the emigrants from those countries admitted
14
Ira Berlin. The Making of African American: The Four Great Migrations (New York: Penguin Books, 2010), 4.
Ibid, 216.
16
Ibid, 219.
17
Ibid, 227.
18
Ibid.
15
to the US.19 This image hardly represents the migration as a whole and is not supported
well by the small amount of coverage Franklin and Higginbotham give this subject. The
authors mention similar social struggles that Berlin discusses, however, they opine
social disputes are settled by gradual assimilation into traditional African American
culture.20 Whereas Berlin sees unification efforts, Franklin and Higginbotham rely on
assimilation. In Motion tends to agree more with Berlin in the unification efforts of
current migrants and African Americans, citing marriage as a unification effort.21 In
addition, the site also mentions a growing concern among African migrants about the
“Americanization” of their children, preferring not to directly assimilate as Franklin and
Higginbotham argue.22 As a new source attracting a large number of students and
scholars, In Motion clearly shows a preference for the Berlin trend story approach over
the Franklin and Higginbotham event-story interpretation.
Historiography of Great Migration and African American Literature
Historiographical trends show that early literature and scholarly works on the
Great Migration drew upon the reading of a narrative of urban despair.23 Kenneth L.
Kusmer, Professor of History at Temple University, and Joe W. Trotter, Giant Eagle
Professor of History and Social Justice at Carnegie Mellon University, opine that new
trends in the literature show evolution in the field and the incorporation of new topics,
19
John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans,
th
v. 2 9 ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2011), 632.
20
Ibid, 633.
21
“Reception and Adaption,” from “Caribbean Immigration,” from In Motion, accessed May 3, 2013,
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/landing.cfm?migration=10&bhcp=1.
22
“The Question of Identity,” from “African Immigration,” from In Motion, accessed May 3, 2013,
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/topic.cfm?migration=13&topic=9&tab=image.
23
Steven A. Reich. “The Great Migration and the Literary Imagination,” The Journal of the Historical Society, no. 1
(2009): 96.
time periods, geographical regions, and theoretical approaches.24 While the choice of
narratives is subjective, the contrast between the two works is best explained by
separation of time. The Franklin and Higginbotham text shows significant progress from
its original publication in 1948, however, the current state of the field favors Berlin
because current trends of the migrations focus follow Berlin’s example by finding a
usable past and expand beyond a centric view of the North and Midwest.
Steven A. Reich, Associate Professor of History at James Madison University,
believes historians of the Great Migration are, “in a search for a usable past to refute the
intellectual foundations of contemporary conservative public policy.” 25 In order to
combat stereotypes created by conservative policy and create a narrative with a usable
past, historians must reconsider the impact of the Great Migration on current social and
political history.26 From Slavery to Freedom has undergone a change in volume and is
on the ninth edition currently, showing consideration for the social and political changes
enacted by African Americans since the book’s first publishing, however, its coverage of
modern migrations struggles to create a usable past beyond the typical conservative
narrative of economic factors driving migratory movement. The contrast in
interpretations of usable past between Franklin and Higginbotham and Berlin is best
seen in the coverage of the third migration, the return of African Americans to the South.
In their monograph, Franklin and Higginbotham begin their explanation of reasons the
third migration happened by providing a graphic detailing the unemployment rate by
24
Kenneth L. Kusmer and Joe W. Trotter. “Introduction,” in The New African American Urban History Since World
War II (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 3.
25
Reich, 98.
26
Ibid.
race.27 This image shows employment changes over a twenty-five year period and
indicates that blacks experienced a noticeably higher rate of job loss from 1965 to
1990.28 Next, the authors compare median income rates from 1970 and 1990 to
highlight the lack of economic stability among African Americans in the North and
Midwest as a precursory factor in their eventual return to the South.29 Determining that
economic hardship was the motivating factor, Franklin and Higginbotham conclude their
coverage of return migration to the South.30 Berlin agrees that economic factors helped
influence the move, however, he expands his narrative beyond conservative thought by
adding the idea of “rootedness”. According to The Making of African America,
rootedness is an idea based on attachments within a defined geographical frame.31 In
addition to economic factors, Berlin states that rootedness influenced black migrants to
return home during the third migration in order to reunite along familial lines.32 In
communities in the North and Midwest, African Americans created a strong reliance
upon each other for survival.33 This new social construct helped lead the return South,
as blacks in the North and Midwest relied upon the communal family to help reunite
them with their nuclear families in the South.34 By exploring the social factor of
community, Berlin uses a traditional precedent but shows the new interpretation of the
black community over time and breaks from the stereotype of finances being the
motivational factor.
27
Franklin and Higginbotham, 584.
Ibid, 584.
29
Ibid, 585.
30
Ibid.
31
Berlin, 26.
32
Ibid, 170.
33
Ibid.
34
Ibid.
28
Kusmer and Trotter believe historians were slow to adapt their works of the mass
migrations with the evolving trends of rapid urbanization.35 The initial delays of adopting
new trends sustained From Slavery to Freedom in early historiography, however,
Kusmer and Trotter note the gradual inclusion of political and social trends began to
change the state of the field, which eventually began to favor the style of the Berlin
narrative.36 Trends identified by Kusmer and Trotter imply the idea that progress made
by the Franklin and Higginbotham text helped produce the Berlin monograph. Kusmer
and Trotter state urban riots forced more attention to black urban history and shifted the
focus off the movement and more to the individual.37 The focus on the individual allowed
early historians, such as Franklin, to create a documentary-style work that emphasized
lasting images of Civil Rights leaders and economic trends of the migrations. As the
Civil Rights Movement cooled, early trends gave way to the proliferation of new ideas
that influenced literature on the migrations.38 The new trends are the aforementioned
topics, geographical regions, and theoretical approaches. The incorporation of new
topics has expanded migration research to include current global migrations and
division among the new migrants and established African Americans. In addition, new
geographical trends expand the scope of literature by examining migration impacts on
the South and West. As an example of geographical trends influencing new literature,
Way Up North in Louisville: African American Migration in the Urban South, 1930-1970
by Luther Adams exclusively focuses on the intraregional urbanization of the South and
breaks from conservative stereotypes that studies on migration must be set in the North
35
Kusmer and Trotter, 1.
Ibid.
37
Ibid.
38
Ibid, 3.
36
and Midwest.39 Finally, Berlin embraced the new theoretical approaches by describing
the migrations using themes of movement, place, and rootedness instead of economic
factors. Published in 2010, The Making of African America agrees with recent trends of
African American urban history by exploring the interplay of class, race, and gender
within the transformations of black urban life.40 While the current state may favor the
Berlin narrative, this may also be an effect of revisionism within the field of Great
Migrations by following the current trends. Time will determine if the field will continue to
favor the trend story version of The Making of African America or if new events and
trends will return to the event-drive story of From Slavery to Freedom.
Reviews
Reviews of both works cast both monographs in a contrapuntal manner. From
Slavery to Freedom has endured two volume and nine editions since its first publication,
yet was also the first work to successfully argue a dialectical relationship between
African American history and American history. 41 The evolution of this text has
coincided with the Civil Rights Movement and continued growth of African American
history in the US but has received much criticism for being “racially chauvinist”. 42 The
Making of African America is a more recently published work and has the advantage of
being a finalized reflective work. Berlin’s monograph ends in an upbeat, “un-Whiggish”
39
Luther Adams, Way Up North in Louisville: African American Migration in the Urban South, 1930-1970 (Chapel
Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 20.
40
Kusmer and Trotter, 3-4.
41
V.P. Franklin. “From Slavery to Freedom: The Journey From Our Known Past to Our Unknown Future,” review of
From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham,
The Journal of Negro History 85, no. 1/2 (Winter-Spring 2000), 7. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2649093.
42
Ibid, 8.
fashion that predicts the future effects of the current movement in relation to Barack
Obama’s presidency.43
The evolution of the Franklin and Higginbotham work shows progress over time
that has been influenced by concurring events in African American history. V.P.
Franklin, Professor History at Dexel University, opines in his review that the evolution of
From Slavery to Freedom that the work stayed true to Franklin’s vision of discussing the
history of African Americans within mainstream American history.44 Franklin’s work was
initially heralded as the “most comprehensive account of the Negro’s story in America to
that time.”45 The work adapted to the events that coincided with its publishing. The third
edition, released in 1967, included many of the recent events and leaders of the Civil
Rights Movement, including the integration of Central High School in Little Rock,
Arkansas, Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, Freedom Rides, and an evaluation of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.46 In an interview with Ray
Arsenault, John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History at the University of South
Florida, Franklin states his beliefs about the role of the historian.47 According to
Franklin, the role of the historian to should extend beyond the writing and teaching of
history.48 Historians should act as a participant in the history they cover.49 Franklin also
recounts his participation in various activities of the 1950s, most notably the Fullbright
43
Brian Ward. “The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations/Fly Away: The Great African American
Cultural Migrations,” a review of The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations by Ira Berlin. The
Journal of Southern History 78 no. 1 (2012), 218. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, accessed May 3, 2013.
44
V.P. Franklin, 7.
45
Ibid.
46
Ibid, 10.
47
Ray Arsenault and John Hope Franklin. “The Sage of Freedom: An Interview with John Hope Franklin,” The Public
Historian 29, no. 2 (Spring 2007), 38. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2007.29.2.35.
48
Ibid.
49
Ibid.
Commission, and agrees that his experiences affected his writings.50 This seems true
as his work contained more “Boxes” or graphics and photographs to create the lasting
images of Civil Rights and the mass migrations.51 The evolution of From Slavery to
Freedom today shows influence of events and major leaders as well as continuing to be
the standard for African American history.
Berlin’s work does not follow the slavery-to-freedom route that Franklin and
Higginbotham present but rather is a synthesis of many different themes of migration
history that shape African American history. 52 Trotter opines that Berlin’s work
“convincingly argues that massive black population movements represent a key to
understanding the transformation of African Americans and U.S. culture, politics, and
economics over long periods of time.”53 By focusing on movements and their effects on
the transformation of black urban culture, Berlin introduces new themes for a complete
synthesis. Trotter notes new syntheses introduced by Berlin include urbanization, labor,
gender, and political mobilization, all of which provide intimacy and a greater sense of
depth for the subject of migrations.54 Brian Ward, Professor of History at Northumbria
University, agrees with Trotter and adds that Berlin successfully shows the African
American migrations qualitatively and quantitatively different than other migrations,
largely because of the syntheses examined in The Making of African America.55
Distancing himself from the use of visuals, Berlin’s focus on syntheses adds to the trend
story narrative that currently dominates the field.
50
Ibid, 43-44.
V.P. Franklin, 12.
52
Joe W. Trotter. Review of The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations by Ira Berlin. Journal of
American Ethnic History 32, no. 2 (Winter 2013): 97. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost, accessed May 3, 2013.
53
Ibid, 96.
54
Ibid, 97.
55
Ward, 217.
51
In conclusion, a major website, historiographical trends, and reviews favor the
Berlin style of the trend story narrative. While this may remain an effect of current trends
in the state of the field, Trotter believes that there is space for both works to remain
relevant. In his review, Trotter states that The Making of African America and From
Slavery to Freedom are best understood as complementary works, not alternative
narratives.56 Perhaps he is right. After all, it is questionable if Berlin’s work, which is
dedicated to Franklin, would exist without the slavery-to-freedom model that concludes
with the achievement of freedom, albeit in a controversial manner. Yet, the respect each
work gives to the other shows has better served African American history as a whole as
images, movement, place, and rootedness all have a home within the history of the
migrations.
56
Trotter, 97.
Works Cited
Adams, Luther. Way Up North in Louisville: African American Migration in the Urban South,
1930-1970. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010.
Aresenault, Ray and John Hope Franklin. “The Sage of Freedom: An Interview with John Hope
Franklin.” The Public Historian 29, no. 2 (Spring 2007), 35-54. Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/tph.2007.29.2.35.
Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations. New York: Penguin
Books, 2010.
Franklin, John Hope, and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of
African Americans, v. 2. 9th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011.
Franklin, V.P. “From Slavery to Freedom: The Journey From Our Known Past to Our Unknown
Future,” review of From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John
Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. The Journal of Negro History 85, no.
1/2 (2012): 6-12. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2649093.
Kusmer, Kenneth L., and Joe W. Trotter. “Introduction,” in The New African American Urban
History Since World War II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Lampton, David. Same Bed, Different Dreams: Managing U.S.-Chinese Relations 1989-2000.
Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001.
Reich, Steven A. “The Great Migration and the Literary Imagination.” The Journal of the
Historical Society, no. 1 (2009): 87-128.
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In Motion: The African American
Migration Experience. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture,
http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/landing.cfm?migration=8.
Trotter, Joe W. Review of The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations by Ira
Berlin. Journal of American Ethnic History 32, no. 2 (Winter 2013): 96-97. MasterFILE
Premier, EBSCOhost, accessed May 3, 2013.
Ward, Brian. “The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations/Fly Away: The Great
African American Cultural Migrations,” a review of The Making of African America: The
Four Great Migrations by Ira Berlin. The Journal of Southern History 78, no. 1 (2012),
216-220. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, accessed May 3, 2013.