Black Chicagoans Describe Their Great Migration Experiences

In the summer of 1919, violence broke out between whites and African Americans in Chicago. The five-day riot left thirty-eight people dead and more than five hundred people injured. The city formed a Commission on Race Relations to study what happened during the riot and what conditions in the city contributed to the violence. As part of that study, the Commission surveyed recent African-American migrants from the South. These questions and answers are a selection from the larger survey.

Question: Why did you come to Chicago?

• Some of my people were here.

• For better wages.

• To better my conditions.

Question: Do you feel greater freedom and independence in Chicago? In what ways?

• Yes. Feel free to do anything I please. Not dictated to by white people.

• Yes. Can vote; feel free; haven’t any fear; make more money.

• Yes. Can vote; no lynching; no fear of mobs; can express my opinion and defend myself.

• Yes. No restrictions as to shows, schools, etc. More protection of law.

Question: What were your first impressions of Chicago?

• When I got here and got on the street cars and saw colored people sitting by white people all over the car I just held my breath, for I thought any minute they would start something, then I saw nobody noticed it, and I just thought this was a real place for colored people. No, indeed, I’ll never work in anybody’s kitchen but my own, any more…

• Didn’t like it; lonesome, until I went out. Then liked the places of amusement which have no restrictions.

Question: What do you like about the North?

• More money and more pleasure to be gotten from it; personal freedom Chicago affords [allows], and voting.

• Freedom of speech and action. Can live without fear, no Jim Crow

Question: What difficulties do you think a person from the South meets in coming to Chicago?

• Just the treatment some of the white people give you on the trains. Sometimes treat you like dogs.

• Change in climate, crowded living conditions, lack of space for gardens, etc.

• … Get in with wrong people who seek to take advantage of the ignorance of newcomers.

Question: Do you get more comforts and pleasures from your higher wages?

• Yes. Living in better houses, can go into almost any place if you have the money, and then the schools are so much better here.

• Yes. I live better, save more, and feel more like a man.

• Yes. I live in a larger house and have more conveniences. Can take more pleasure; have more leisure time.