South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

The Great Migration was the movement of millions of Black Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and the urban South between 1910 and 1970. Many of them chose to migrate because of the racist violence Black people faced in the Jim Crow South. Yet, as Perry shows, the Northern US was never free of racism. Moreover, migrations of Black people to Southern cities were also significant in changing and shaping the landscape of the modern US.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, often simply referred to by the acronym HBCU, were established throughout the country, but mostly in the South, as institutions of higher education for Black students. They were founded in the aftermath of the Civil War and before integration. Perry explores the significance of these institutions, including Fisk University, Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Howard University. These schools continue to produce Black leadership in the US and provided education to “the bulk of the Black middle class through the twentieth century” (90).