Office of Human Relations

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Migration and the Black FamilyPressures and
Opportunities1450 to the Present

• Office of Human Relations
• Santa Clara County
• Delorme McKee-Stovall
• Ann Krause
• Erika Perez

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Goal for Todays Presentation
To provide a history of the issues and concerns
African Americans have faced in their attempt to
create and maintain sustainable families in a
difficult environment from the time of slavery to
the present.
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The African-American Family Migration Experience
Migration has been central in shaping the
African-American culture and family life. Our
focus today is on the effects of four major
migrations on the African-American family

• The Original Migration of Slaves from Africa
• Migration Out of the South in the Nineteenth
  Century
• The Great Wars Migration in the Twentieth
  Century
• Todays Migration Back to the South

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The First MigrationBlacks Come to America as
Slaves
African Family
Selling of African Slaves at Jamestown
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Map of Migration from Africa to America
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A Typical Slave Ship
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Some Data about Slavery

• Ten to twelve million slaves were brought to the
  Americas between 1450 and 1860.
• The majority went to Brazil and the West Indies.
  Only 500,000 came to North America.
• Most of the slaves in South and Central America
  died from the harsh treatment. As a result,
  slavery did not become established there.
• By 1860, 3.8 million slaves made up one-third of
  the population of the Southern states in the
  Northern states, there were 500,000 free Blacks.

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The Selling of Slaves
A Slave Auction
Inspection
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Slave Prices for Men and BoysRichmond, 1846 to
1860
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Slave Prices for Women and GirlsRichmond, 1846
to 1860
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Managing SlavesAccording to Willie Lynch in 1712

• Use fear, distrust, and envy to divide and create
  conflicts between slaves.
• - Female vs. male
• - Old Black male against young Black male
• - Dark-skinned versus light-skinned
• They must love, respect, and trust only us
  the white slave owners.
• Break them like you break a horse. If you break
  the female, she will break her offspring. Put the
  fear of God in the male.
• The Language Barrier keep them uneducated and
  unaware.

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Pictures of Slave Families
A Family Separated
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Pictures of Slave Families
A Family Together
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Slave Efforts to Maintain Families

• In spite of slave masters sole interest in
  breeding more slaves, slaves engaged in unlawful
  marriages. Jumping the Broom was a ritual to
  honor their unions.
• Slaves also formed new kinship relationships.
• - Slave to slave blood did not define
  kinship.
• - Master to slave the master defined the
  kinship based on sex, skin color, and racial
  anonymity.
• - Slave to Native Americans based on mutual
  consent.

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Nineteenth Century Beginnings ofthe Northern
and Western Migrations
Moving Out of the South Disillusioned by Jim
Crow laws and attracted by land and jobs, African
Americans migrated North and West.
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Pictures from the Nineteenth Century Migrations
Black Exodus from the South via Riverboat
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Pictures from the Nineteenth Century Migrations
Early Homestead in Kansas
The Shores Family in Nebraska
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Pictures from the Nineteenth Century Migrations
Black Cowboys
Cyclists in Denver
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Pictures from the Nineteenth Century Migrations
Blacks in a Northern City
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1853 Census of San Jose, CA
This census, taken three years after California
became a state, shows that Blacks were a part of
the early history of San Jose.
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Nineteenth CenturyPressures and Opportunities

• Pressures Racism
• Fear of white violence
• Economic injustice
• Jim Crow laws
• Opportunities The Promised Land
• Urban jobs
• Land ownership
• Access to education and skills

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Jim Crow Laws Black Codes
Purposes

• Reverse civil rights gains
• Promote segregation
• - Transportation
• - Use of public facilities
• - Housing
• - Restaurants/theaters
• - Schools
• Prevent voting
• - Poll tax
• - Literacy tests

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Jim Crow Laws Black Codes

• One drop of African blood defined your permanent
  heritage and status.
• Looking directly at or touching a white female
  was a punishable offense.
• Interracial relationships or marriages were
  illegal.
• The legal status of Blacks was equal to 3/5 of a
  person. Jim Crow laws limited Blacks rights to
  legal recourse.

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Lynchings

• The white public sentiment that supported Jim
  Crow laws also upheld the abhorrent practice of
  lynching.

• Of the 5,000 lynchings and 20,000 killings, only
  50 individuals were ever brought to trial.
• It is estimated that over 10,000 individuals
  witnessed these acts of brutality.

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Twentieth Century The Great Wars Migrations
to Industrial Areas
The First and Second World Wars created a demand
for labor in Northern and Western cities. Thus
began the transformation of the African-American
population from a predominantly rural to a
predominantly urban people.
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Black Population Trends
The Change from Southern Rural to Northern Urban
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Pictures from the Twentieth Century Migrations
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Pictures from theTwentieth Century Migrations
Ford Assembly Line
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Pictures from theTwentieth Century Migrations
Harlem in the Twenties The Harlem Renaissance
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Pictures from the Twentieth Century Migrations
Woman Aircraft Worker during WW II
Housing in Detroit
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Pictures from the Twentieth Century Migrations
Middle Class Family
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Segregation in the Forties
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Boycott of Woolworth and Kress Stores in San Jose
in the Fifties
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1900-1960Pressures and Opportunities

• Pressures
• Jim Crow laws segregation
• Cultural insensitivity
• Social welfare
• Opportunities
• Jobs
• Community
• Integration education and housing

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The Sixties Time of Radical Change
MLK and Gandhi
I have a dream Speech
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The Sixties Time of Radical Change
Black Panthers
Stokely Carmichael and the SDS
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1960 to 2000Pressures and Opportunities

• Pressures
• Cultural insensitivity
• Economic and racial discrimination
• Opportunities
• Civil rights
• Black Power movements

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Current Migration TrendBack to the South
Starting in the 1970s, there has been a reverse
migration to the South as prospects for Blacks
have improved there. As Maya Angelou observed,
many African Americans have found that they can
come home again.
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Pictures from the Current Migration to the South
New Opportunities for a Better Life
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Pictures from the Current Migration to the South
The New Little Rock
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Pictures from the Current Migration to the South
A Battle Won?
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Decreasing Black Population in Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County Black Census
Are they going to the South also?
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Current Black FamiliesPressures and
Opportunities

• Pressures
• Cultural insensitivity
• Shifting demographics and economics
• Opportunities
• Community
• Jobs
• Home ownership

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Looking toward the Future
It isnt where you came from. Its where youre
going that counts. -- Ella Fitzgerald
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For Further Study
Much of the information and imagery for this
presentation was taken from the web site In
Motion The African-American Migration
Experience. http//www.inmotionaame.org