| Lesson Plans For The Second Great Migration |
| Urban Concentration and Racial Violence Lesson Plan |
| Grade levels: Middle school, grades 6-8 |
| Concentration area: History |
| In the narrative The Second Great Migration specifically the segment titled "Impact on Destination Communities," the author probes the relationship between urban concentration of African-American residents and race riots. Urban Concentration and Racial Violence is a lesson plan that may be used in history classes with or as a follow-up to this narrative. Students will research one of the many urban race riots in U.S. history, from the New York City riots during the Civil War to the "Red Summer of 1919" or the hate-strikes of 1943. Students will present their findings in the form of a newspaper's front page.
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| Unintended Consequences Lesson Plan: Policies that Impact Migration |
| Grade levels: High school, grades 9-12 |
| Concentration area: History
: U.S., U.S. Government |
| In the narrative The Second Great Migration, the sections, "Causes of the Migrations—Pushes" and "Reverse Migration" recount the impact of federal government policies that were intended for one purpose but also had unintended consequences on migration. Unintended Consequences is a lesson plan that may be used with this narrative in history or political science/government classes. Students will examine the cause-and-effect relationship between the Agricultural Adjustment Acts of the New Deal or the 1965 Voting Rights Act and African-American migration.
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| From Hope to Despair Lesson Plan: Changes in African-American Expression from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present |
| Grade levels: Middle and high school, grades 6-12 |
| Concentration area: History, Language Arts, Performing Arts |
| The Second Great Migration highlights the shift in tone in the media and visual and literary images of the African American's migrant experience from novelty, excitement, and creativity to deterioration, lament, loss, and despair. From Hope to Despair is a lesson plan that may be used with or as a follow-up to this narrative, either in a language arts, performing arts, or visual arts classes, or as a collaboration across the curriculum including social studies. Students will select and pair examples of music, poetry, literary prose, drama, film, visual arts, or other expressive media. One example should be from the era of the Harlem Renaissance and the second example should be a contemporary work. Students will analyze both samples, looking at composition, tone (through color and line or literary devices), theme, setting, and/or characterization to evaluate whether their examples support the thesis of the narrative's author.
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| The Second Great Migration |
| Grade levels: Middle and high school, grades 9-12 |
| Concentration area: History |
| This lesson is designed for students to use with the narrative The Second Great Migration. Students also will use the site's maps and image resources in studying this migration. Appropriate for middle school and high school students, the lesson's goal is to facilitate students' understanding of the causes of this migration and the impact it had on its destination communities.
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| The Greatest Generation Lesson Plan |
| Grade levels: Middle school, grades 6–8 |
| Concentration area: History |
| Much of the narrative The Second Great Migration examines the impact of World War II on African Americans who served in the military and defense industries. As this group ages, the opportunity to conduct oral history is ebbing, so this activity is designed to encourage students to talk with people of this passing generation. The teacher may wish to coordinate with local individuals or groups to set up interviews; the teacher also may locate tape or video recorders, and set up any necessary release forms for interview subjects. In the lesson The Greatest Generation, students will prepare a list of questions for their interviews, taking into account whether the person is male or female, served in the military or in a home-front capacity. They then will explore the impact of the war on the life of the person interviewed in such areas as migration, gender relations, economic conditions, status within the African-American community, as well as race relations. The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress may serve as a guide for this activity and also, if the school or community wishes it, as a repository for collected oral histories.
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| Imagination and the Second Great Migration Lesson Plan |
| Grade levels: High school, grades 9–12 |
| Concentration area: History |
| In the narrative The Second Great Migration, Vernon Jarrett expressed the idea that radio and newspapers spurred the hope and imagination of African Americans to migrate outside of the South to a "Mecca of human rights and civility." The lesson plan Imagination and the Second Great Migration is designed so that students may research and test this hypothesis by a) conducting oral history interviews with people in their community who migrated from the South during that era; or b) examining the music and lyrics of Earl "Fatha" Hines, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Count Basie for evidence of it providing inspiration to migrants; or c) examining newspaper columns written in such publications as the Chicago Defender for evidence of an idealized "other America" where African Americans could live in social and political freedom and equality. Students will compare their findings and evaluate the impact of the imagination on the Second Great Migration.
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| Mapping Twentieth Century African-American Migration |
| Grade levels: High School, grades 9–12 |
| Concentration area: Geography |
| The website includes many maps among its resource materials. Maps bring the migration of African-Americans of the twentieth century to life, visually organizing statistical information for students. The lesson, Mapping Twentieth Century African-American Migration, is designed to help students develop their analytical skills when examining maps by comparing, contrasting, and sequencing information using : Principal States of Origin of the Migrants 1910–1930; Principal States of Origin of the Migrants 1940–1950; African-Americans Going South 1995–2000; The Great Migration; The Second Great Migration; Interstate Migrations 1955–1995; The Second Great Migration Gaines and Losses 1940–1970; and Reverse Migration 1975–2000. Students will use the activities in this lesson to compare and contrast states of origin and destination states at the beginning and end of the Great Migration, the Second Great Migration, and the Reverse Migration (in conjunction with their reading of the narratives The Great Migration, the Second Great Migration, Return South Migration.)Students will assess how geographical features such as the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River impacted settlement and evaluate whether modernized transportation (railroads, the interstate system) lessened the role of geography in migration.
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| Migration and Political Power Lesson Plan: A Mapping and Graphing Activity |
| Grade levels: Middle school, grades 6–8 |
| Concentration area: History |
| The narrative The Second Great Migration examines the impact of migration on the rise of African-American political representation. During the Reconstruction era, all African-American Members of Congress came from southern states. Following the Great Migration during and after World War I, Representatives Oscar DePriest and Arthur Mitchell were elected as Representatives to the U.S. Congress from Illinois. However, with the convergence of the Second Great Migration and the civil rights movement, African Americans from all over the United States became mayors, state legislators, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and also of the U.S. Senate. The Congressional Black Caucus was formed in 1969, towards the end of the Second Great Migration. Migration and Political Power is a lesson plan that may be used in history or political science/government classes. Students will examine how African-American migration contributed to the broad-based political impact of this minority. Students will use the information in the narrative and congressional sources in a sequence of mapping and graphing activities.
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| Movement of African Americans in the United States During the Twentieth Century Lesson Plan |
| Grade levels: Middle and high school |
| Concentration area: Geography |
| During the Twentieth century, many push/pull factors caused African Americans to migrate from region to region. In the narrative The Second Great Migration, these factors are discussed. In this lesson, students will examine data and maps to create migration maps of African-American movement in the Twentieth century. Students then will analyze the patterns in the migration.
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