Between World War II and 1980, tens of thousands of Black people moved to Boston from the South as part of the Great Migration, one of the most consequential mass movements of people in American history. Black migration from the South transformed the city, as it did urban areas across the country. North to Boston is the first book to examine that important subject.
Blake Gumprecht traces the history of this migration and explores its impacts in greater depth through the lives of ten individuals, each the subject of one chapter. Those chapters are short biographies based on extensive interviews by the author and are told in an engaging style that reflects the author's background as a journalist.
The ten people featured came from six southern states. They fled racism, limited opportunity, and hopelessness, and moved north in pursuit of better jobs, equal treatment, and greater freedom. They settled in neighborhoods such as Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. They worked as teachers, factory workers, welders, and security guards. Their stories are emblematic of the experiences of Black people everywhere who left the South, and provide a rare glimpse into the lives of ordinary people living in one city's Black community.
North to Boston brings to life the history of the Great Migration, revealing a hidden aspect of New England's history and shining a spotlight on a singularly important event in the making of Black Boston.
By:
Blake Gumprecht (Journalist Journalist)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 163mm,
Width: 224mm,
Spine: 46mm
Weight: 458g
ISBN: 9780197614440
ISBN 10: 0197614442
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 12 June 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface 1. The Great Migration in New England 2. Charles Gordon, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1943 3. Thomas Lindsay, Birmingham, Alabama, 1951 4. Lucy Parham, Morven, North Carolina, 1957 5. Ollie Sumrall Jr., Quitman, Mississippi, 1959 6. Elizabeth Hall Davis, Columbia, South Carolina, 1963 7. Willie Pittman, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1963 8. Geraldine Walker, Clay County, Alabama, 1963 9. Barbra Hicks, Bradford, Alabama, 1964 10. Al Kinnitt Jr., Brunswick, Georgia, 1964 11. Elta Garrett, Sun, Louisiana, 1969 12. Ten Lives, What They Teach Us, and Why They Matter Notes Additional Reading Index
Blake Gumprecht taught geography for more than two decades at the University of New Hampshire, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of two previous books, The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth and The American College Town, both of which won the American Association of Geographers' J. B. Jackson Prize. He now lives and writes in El Paso, Texas.
Reviews for North to Boston: Life Histories from the Black Great Migration in New England
Recommended. General readers and undergraduates. * Choice *
