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.
PBS
Pbs: The West Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
From the critically acclaimed PBS series, "The West," this site provides a brief biography of Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, a leader of the "Great Exodus" which brought thousands of African Americans west from the post-Reconstruction South.
Other
Postbellum African American Society and Culture: Black Migration
From the Encyclopedia of American Social History. Read about the black migration to the West, primarily Kansas and Oklahoma after the end of Reconstruction and the institution of black codes in the South.
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...
Other
New York Public Library: Africana Age: The Civil Rights Movement
This is an extensive review of the Civil Rights movement from the 1940s to the 1960s. Read about the ways African Americans protested discrimination in employment and education over several years. Be sure to click on the images to find...
PBS
Pbs: God in America: The Black Church
A good look at the role of the church and religion in the history of African Americans. Find out the church's importance in the abolition movement and the civil rights movement.
US National Archives
Nara: Teaching With Documents: Photographs of the 369th Infantry
Background information on the African American troops in the 369th Infantry accompanied by teaching activities that allows learners to analyze photographs and use the information in many curricular connections.
US Department of Labor
U.s. Department of Labor: The Federal Government and Negro Workers Under Wilson
This scholarly paper investigates the treatment of the federal government, sometimes ambivalent, sometimes hostile, during the presidential terms of Woodrow Wilson. See how Wilson's need for industrial workers and soldiers in the time...
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: The East St. Louis Riot
Read about the shameful events and carnage in the targeting of African Americans in the East St. Louis Riot in 1917. This was truly a black mark in race relations in the United States.
Digital History
Digital History: The Progressive Era
A good overview of the many social and economic changes that occurred in the United States in the early 20th century. There are hyperlinks to information about the many social reforms, the sad state of race relations at the time, and the...
PBS
Pbs American Masters: Scientific American: Following Muddy's Trail
This site has a lesson plan on Muddy Waters focused on the American Masters documentary about him. Parallels the Great Migration with the growth of the blues music movement in America. Click on Muddy's name to access a detailed biography...
Library of Congress
Loc: Learning Page: Primary Source Set Dust Bowl Migration
Set of primary documents, photos, audio and sheet music having to do with the movement of homeless families during the Great Depression. Teaching guide included.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Book Files: Out of the Dust
"Out of the Dust", a Newbery Award Winning, poetic book by Karen Hesse. The heroine, Billie Joe, faces issues of forgiveness and healing during the Dust Bowl. The story is set in Oklahoma, during the Great Depression. Make a smart choice...
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.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: What Was the Harlem Renaissance?
Professor Kate Rushin describes the Harlem Renaissance as a large social and cultural movement fueled by many factors in this video from A Walk Through Harlem.
Calisphere: University of California Libraries
University of California: Calisphere: Great Depression: Dust Bowl Migration
Primary source photos showing the devastation of the Dust Bowl and refugee migration to California.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: Immigration and Migration
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lengthy essay discussing the differing opinions about immigration and the role of immigrants in the United States in the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. Find out about the...
Other
Pioneer Story: The Mormon Pioneer Trail
This site has everything you need to know about the Mormon Pioneer Trail. Read about the stops along the 1,300-mile trail from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Great Salt Lake Valley and get personal accounts of what happened to the Mormons on...
Museum of Modern Art
Mo Ma: Henri Cartier Bresson: Great Leap Forward, China,1958
Photo-essay by Cartier-Bresson documents scenes from the Great Leap Forward, Mao's intensive programme of forced industrialisation and forced migration.
Tennessee History For Kids
Tennessee History for Kids: Donelson's Journal the Day They Passed Through the Mountain
The journal kept by John Donelson during the journey by boats down the Tennessee River in 1779-80 is one of the great records of American migration. The most dramatic day of the journey was Wednesday, March 8, a day in which Donelson's...
Immigration and Ethnic History Society
Iehs: Lacroix, the Transplantation of French Canada: A Challenge to Immigration
This article focuses on the migration of French Canadians into the New England area and the impact on the area and the Roman Catholic Church. By the Great Depression, nearly a million Canadians of French descent had settled in the United...
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.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: New England Colonies: Massachusetts Bay the City on the Hill
Learn a little about Puritan beliefs and see the importance of religion and the clergy in Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Library of Congress
Loc: The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
Online exhibit from the Library of Congress explores black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Exhibit contains a wealth of items including books, government documents, manuscripts,...