Shainu George
Week 11
Response 4 of 5
This article, “Selling the American dream myth to black southerner as: the Chicago Defender and the great migration of 1915-1919” discussed the reasons why southern African Americans were eager to move up north. One reason was the push pull economic theory. Certain factors were pushing and pulling the African Americans decision on whether or not they should stay in the south. Factors that pushed them out included disadvantageous terms of trade and unfair distribution of property. Things that pulled them were employment opportunities and promises of fair pay. Another theory as to why this population chose to move up north was the socio-economic theory. This states that social unfairness and the maintenance of family relations is what motivated migration. The author argues that another important factor of the great migration was the publication of the Chicago Defender, the most read black newspaper in the United States at that time. It influenced the myth of American Dream through three stages; southern discontent, land of hope, and action. It rallied up the blacks in the south by highlighting certain aspects of the American Dream. I agree with the author, Alan Desantis, in that the Chicago Defender played a major role in the migration of black southerners up north. The Defender was important because it had all of the thoughts and ideas of the blacks written down on paper. The fact that it was written out for them probably made it more appealing. The people that wrote the newspapers were literate, and therefore probably smart African Americans. So, if they believed that the American dream could be pursued up North, why wouldn’t it be true? Another reason why I believe the Defender had a big impact on migration is because African Americans read the newspaper. “In 1919, its shipping manifest included over 1,542 small towns and cities throughout the south such as Fry’s Mill, Arkansas; Bibsland, Louisiana; Tunica, Mississippi; Yoakum, Texas; and Palataka, Florida, which each brought over one hundred copies of the Defender per week.” A copy of the Defender was available to everyone in the south. If someone didn’t own a copy they could borrow it from someone or hear about it in church or at the barbershop. The Chicago Defender became the thing to talk about. Once more and more people started talking about the ideas of the Defender, an increasingly more amount of people would feel comfortable with the idea of pursuing the American dream up north.
Questions:
1) Were there other popular black newspapers at that time?
2) Did certain white people try to stop the publication of the Chicago Defender?
