Enclaves

Response 4 of 5

“Selling the American dream myth to black southerners: The Chicago defender and the great migration of 1915-1919”

Between 1915 and 1919, there was a large influx of African Americans migrating from the South to the North. Many settled in areas like Detroit, Chicago and New York because of the desire to achieve the American Dream. They believed that the North was the “new Mecca”. Some incentives for the migration included wealth, family ties and freedom. It was believed that there were economic opportunities in the North including open jobs due to many people away fighting in World War 1. Additionally, it was more likely for people to migrate if they had friends and family there, giving attention to the idea of enclaves. Finally, the South contained a lot of oppression, racism and lynching; therefore, many African Americans wanted a new beginning.

“Selling the American dream myth to black southerners: The Chicago defender and the great migration of 1915-1919,” brings the Chicago Defender into light, a black newspaper that “persuaded discontented southern blacks to migrate to the North by waging a migration campaign that utilized the recurring themes found in the American-Dream Myth.” The authors of the newspaper used three stages for their rhetorical campaign: Southern Discontent Stage, Land-of-Hope Stage and Action Stage. Each of these stages built on the others and were used as a way to entice Southerners. Although the Southerners were already aware of the promises in the North and the oppression they were in, the Chicago Defender helped to exemplify and explicitly write out the American Dream that they lacked. This was often passed around to family members, read in public spaces and looked at by about seven people before it was put down.

This journal brings out the concept of enclaves that is discussed in the class. Before the Great Migration, many African Americans lived in states like Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. They created their own communities there and it was a place of familiarity for them. However, due to promising incentives that the North believed to have, many migrated to states like Harlem in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. After relocating to the North, new enclaves were created to experience the familiarity that they had back home. This idea of closeness draws to the other reading, Island’s in the City: West African Migration to New York, by Nancy Foner. She writes, “Walking along Brooklyn’s Flatbush Avenue, one immediately notices that the Caribbean has come to New York. All along the avenue, signals of a vibrant Caribbean immigrant presence shout at even the most casual observer.” In Section 3 of Foner’s book, she discusses the West Indian culture present along Flatbush Avenue due to the increase in Caribbean immigrants. This also speaks to the idea of cultural enclaves where immigrants all gather in one place and bring the community that they had before to their new home.

1. 1. Will cultural enclaves ever stop?
2. 2. How do immigrants decide what to bring to their new home? (For example, how do they decide to bring one dish, but not another dish?)