A LETTER FROM DUCHESS Duchess Harris Beginning in the early 1900s Black people began to leave the South in large numbers This mass movement is known as the Great Migration Black people wanted to escape violence and discrimination in the South Many moved to northern cities But they still encountered discrimination Many could not find good housing They were forced to work difficult low-paying jobs Despite these hardships Black migrants made a place for themselves They created music and art that became widely popular Black politicians and activists worked for equal rights Author Isabel Wilkerson argues that the Great Migration was the first big step that African Americans took without asking This is a powerful concept I had never thought of the Great Migration as an act of political resistance But the movement of Black people collectively voicing their opposition to the South was indeed a political act Join me in learning about the history and legacy of the Great Migration Follow me on a journey that explores the promise of freedom
A family arrives in Chicago in the early 1900s as part of the Great Migration
CHAPTER ONE
A RIOT ERUPTS On July 27 1919 temperatures Fahrenheit 32 C in Chicago soared above 90 degrees Illinois Seventeen-year-old Eugene Williams and his three friends wanted to cool down They headed for a beach along the shores of Lake Michigan The teens splashed in the water and then climbed onto a homemade raft As the teens floated the raft drifted across an invisible line White swimmers stayed on one side of the line Black swimmers remained on the other side Williams and his friends were African American They had floated into the white swimming area Tensions between white and black people had been simmering Bystanders leave the Lake Michigan beach in Chicago Illinois as the 1919 riot begins
