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African Americans who remained in and returned to the American South during the Great Migration
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Title
African Americans who remained in and returned to the American South during the Great Migration
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Adams
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Beatrice J.
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Beatrice J. Adams
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author
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Mia
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Mia Bay
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chair
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White
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Deborah Gray
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Deborah Gray White
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co-chair
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Mittelstadt
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Jennifer
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Jennifer Mittelstadt
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Rucker
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Walter
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Walter Rucker
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Ortiz
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Paul
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Paul Ortiz
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Advisory Committee
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outside member
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Rutgers University
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School of Graduate Studies
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theses
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ETD doctoral
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2021
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2021-05
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2021
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English
Abstract
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This study examines the experiences of African Americans who chose to remain in and return to the American South during the Great Migration. Historians have understood the Great Migration as the single most important event in African American history of the twentieth century, shifting that history’s focus from the South to the North and West. In contrast, this study tells the stories of the millions of people who stayed in or returned to the American South—emphasizing the reality that the South remained home to the largest percentage of African Americans throughout the period despite the mass exodus. Thus, it challenges scholars to rethink the nature of the Great Migration. It argues that the choice millions of African Americans made to stay or return to the American South played a critical role in the region’s transformation. This transformation was marked by the shift of the South from a region marred by Jim Crow segregation to the home of the largest percentage of educated and middle-class African Americans.
This study uses archival sources alongside interdisciplinary methods to reconstruct the ideas and feelings African Americans created about the south, and the roles they played in their choices to remain or return there. Moving beyond an examination of push and pull factors, it explores how cultural beliefs and practices as well as economic and political factors informed their decisions to stay and to view the South as their “home.”
Ultimately, it presents an alternative explication of both the use and meaning of mobility as a critical vector for understanding what freedom looked like for African Americans in the 20th century. Furthermore, in light of the current demographic trend of African Americans returning in mass to southern cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, my dissertation elucidates how and why African Americans continued to frame the American South as a homeland throughout the 20th century and beyond.
This study uses archival sources alongside interdisciplinary methods to reconstruct the ideas and feelings African Americans created about the south, and the roles they played in their choices to remain or return there. Moving beyond an examination of push and pull factors, it explores how cultural beliefs and practices as well as economic and political factors informed their decisions to stay and to view the South as their “home.”
Ultimately, it presents an alternative explication of both the use and meaning of mobility as a critical vector for understanding what freedom looked like for African Americans in the 20th century. Furthermore, in light of the current demographic trend of African Americans returning in mass to southern cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, my dissertation elucidates how and why African Americans continued to frame the American South as a homeland throughout the 20th century and beyond.
Subject
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Topic
History
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Topic
African American
Subject
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Topic
African Americans -- History
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Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD_11655
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1 online resource (vii, 215 pages) : illustrations
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Ph.D.
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Includes bibliographical references
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School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore10001600001
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Identifier
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doi:10.7282/t3-3fy0-5307
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Rights
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The author owns the copyright to this work.
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Name
FamilyName
Adams
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Beatrice
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Permission or license
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2021-03-31 11:44:37
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Beatrice Adams
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Affiliation
Rutgers University. School of Graduate Studies
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Author Agreement License
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I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
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2021-05-31
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2025-05-31
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after May 31st, 2025.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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2021-04-01T11:45:30
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