Friday, August 27, 2010
09) Chicago Defender And The Great Migration
--Bessie Smith Chicago Bound Blues
At the end of World War I, immigration form eastern Europe slowed down, as demand for American industrial products grew, African Americans found it easier get jobs in the railways, steel works and factories, and the The Great migration started in earnest.
between 1915 to 1925 about half a million African Americans from the South to migrated to Chicago, the migration was vigorously advocated by The Chicago Defender, and with them they brought their culture and music and ushered in a the Jazz And Blues age in Chicago, and it's renaissance in the 1930's.
This resonates well with the notion of American aspiration for improvement and change, and movement and immigration in the search for this improvement, which acts as a catalyst for changes in cultures and cities. As times change and major industries die our, leaving behind a decaying industrial city, the question is whether the city and people can reinvent themselves again.
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