The United States has been known for their immense wealth in rich history. There is a very historical event that occurred between 1915 all the way to the 1960’s. The Great Migration is what it is referred as. The Great Migration was the movement of southern African Americans moving to North and West America. Just like in Richard Wright’s novel Native Son, Bigger and his family had moved to the North after Bigger’s father had been killed in a riot that occurred in the South. At the time, many African Americans lived in poverty both in the North and South. The South had a lot more racial tension and discrimination than the North did, because the South had “Jim Crow laws” which were racial segregation state and local laws enacted after the Reconstruction
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They were forced to deal with poor working conditions as well as the widespread of racial discrimination and prejudice. While African Americans did not experience immense benefits upon their arrival in the city, they grew a sense of greater self-worth and self-importance as they began attempting to settle into the cities. However, a number of obstacles were present that were intended to stop African Americans from achieving full access to benefits appreciated by whites. Migration made race a national topic, the unexpected presence of African Americans and the economic opposition in the work field had forced northern whites to confront their own intolerance daily, which in other words were being introduced to being racially discriminating. In 1874, Illinois had legally eliminated school segregation and desegregated public accommodations in 1885 making it equal for all races, but that did not mean that it was enforced. Another event that had been widely known during the time of the Great Migration was “The Chicago Riots of 1919”. As World War I ended, the factories no longer needed an immense amount of work force. Many African Americans found themselves with no job as well as a growing tension with working-class whites. With the growing tension going at full speed, riots were at the brink of occurring. That exactly is what occurred on the 27th of July in 1919, also known as the beginning of “The Chicago Riots of 1919”. A 17-year-old African American boy had crossed an unmarked line separating whites from African Americans at the 29th street beach. Soon enough “whites and blacks at the scene began throwing rocks at each other and the violence rapidly escalated throughout the area … White gangs stormed the black belt, setting houses on fire, hunting down black residents, firing shotguns, and hurling bricks” (Layson and Kenneth).
They were forced to deal with poor working conditions as well as the widespread of racial discrimination and prejudice. While African Americans did not experience immense benefits upon their arrival in the city, they grew a sense of greater self-worth and self-importance as they began attempting to settle into the cities. However, a number of obstacles were present that were intended to stop African Americans from achieving full access to benefits appreciated by whites. Migration made race a national topic, the unexpected presence of African Americans and the economic opposition in the work field had forced northern whites to confront their own intolerance daily, which in other words were being introduced to being racially discriminating. In 1874, Illinois had legally eliminated school segregation and desegregated public accommodations in 1885 making it equal for all races, but that did not mean that it was enforced. Another event that had been widely known during the time of the Great Migration was “The Chicago Riots of 1919”. As World War I ended, the factories no longer needed an immense amount of work force. Many African Americans found themselves with no job as well as a growing tension with working-class whites. With the growing tension going at full speed, riots were at the brink of occurring. That exactly is what occurred on the 27th of July in 1919, also known as the beginning of “The Chicago Riots of 1919”. A 17-year-old African American boy had crossed an unmarked line separating whites from African Americans at the 29th street beach. Soon enough “whites and blacks at the scene began throwing rocks at each other and the violence rapidly escalated throughout the area … White gangs stormed the black belt, setting houses on fire, hunting down black residents, firing shotguns, and hurling bricks” (Layson and Kenneth).