STIMULATION OF THE MOVEMENT
It is not surprising that the exodus grew so contagious when viewed in
the light of the numerous factors which played a part in influencing
its extension. Considering the temper of the South and its attitude
toward any attempt to reduce its labor supply, it is readily apparent
that leaders who openly encouraged the exodus would be in personal
danger. There were, of course, some few who did venture to voice
their belief in it, but they were in most cases speedily silenced. A
Methodist minister was sent to jail because he was said to have been
enticing laborers to go north and work for a New York firm, which
would give employment to fifty of his people. The tactics adopted
by influential persons who favored the movement, therefore, were of
necessity covert and very much guarded.
One of the chief stimuli was discussion. The very fact that negroes
were leaving in large numbers was a disturbing factor. The talk in the
barber shops and grocery stores where men were wont to assemble soon
began to take the form of reasons for leaving. There it was the custom
to review all the instances of mistreatment and injustice which fell
to the lot of the negro in the South. It was here also that letters
from the North were read and fresh news on the exodus was first given
out. In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, it was stated that for a while there
was no subject of discussion but the migration. "The packing houses
in Chicago for a while seemed to be everything," said one negro. "You
could not rest in your bed at night for Chicago." Chicago came to be
so common a word that they began to call it "Chi." Men went down to
talk with the Chicago porters on the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad
which ran through the town. They asked questions about the weather in
Chicago. The report was that it was the same as in Hattiesburg.[32]
In every circle the advisability of leaving was debated. In the
churches the pastors, seeing their flocks leaving, at first attempted
to dissuade them. The people refused to come to church. In the church
meetings there were verbal clashes on the matter of the attitude
toward the migration. Some few had been careful enough to go north
and investigate for themselves and friends. A man learned of the North
through a friend whose relatives wrote him from that section. He,
thereupon, decided to pay a visit of two weeks, going in August. The
attitude of the North overwhelmed him. At Fulton, Kentucky, while he
was on the train a white man was sitting in front of him. He wanted to
ask him a question but hesitated fearing that he would be rebuffed.
He finally addressed the stranger, who answered him courteously and
kindly, calling his attention to other points of interest in the
North. At Gary, Indiana, he met a gentleman who said he had been
mayor of Gary for seven years. He described the Gary school system and
promised him an education for his children. He was assured employment
at $4 a day for eight hours' work.[33]
A still more powerful, though insidious factor, was the work of
public speakers who hid their intentions behind their unique method of
presentation. In a lecture on the question of migration a speaker, who
is a widely known character, made these remarks:
So many of my folks are leaving that I thought I'd go up and
see whether or not they had made a mistake. I found thousands
of old friends up there making more money than they'd ever
made in their lives. I said to one woman in Chicago, "Well,
Sister ----, I see you're here." "Yes, Brother ----, I'm here,
thank the Lord." "Do you find it any colder up here than it
was in Mississippi?" "Did I understand you correctly to say
cold? Honey, I mean it's cold. It is _some_ cold." "But you
expect to return, don't you?" "Don't play with me, chile. What
am I going to return for? I should say not. Up here you see
when I come out on the street I walk on nice smooth pavements.
Down home I got to walk home through the mud. Up here at
nights it don't matter much about coming home from church.
Down home on my street there ain't a single lamp post. And
say, honey, I got a bath tub!"[34]
He related the instance of his visit to an automobile plant where he
was met at the door by a "stalwart, handsome, six-footer as black as
midnight." He asked his companion the name of this "potentate." He was
told that this man was an experienced machinist. Every car that passed
out of that plant must have his O.K. He added further that his salary
was something like $100 a week and that the incident showed the
unlimited chance for expansion in the North. When he began to
enumerate some of the positions which "men of the race" were holding,
the audience became enthusiastic beyond control. One man in the
audience, who had been to Detroit, could restrain himself no longer
and stood up to inform the audience that there were also colored
street car conductors and motormen and that he had seen them with his
own eyes. The speaker paid no attention to this interruption and the
audience appeared not to notice it, but began to exchange reports
among themselves. The speaker added that he had found negroes in the
North, well dressed and looking like men--for the first time in
their lives--men who were simply "bums" at home. In excusing the
indisposition of some negroes toward work, he said, "How in the
world can you expect a man to work faithfully all day long for fifty
cents?"[35]
Among the important stimuli were the rumors in circulation. When a
community is wrought up, it is less difficult to believe remarkable
tales. To persons beyond the influence of this excitement it is
somewhat difficult to conceive how the rumor that the Germans were on
their way through Texas to take the southern States could have been
believed. And yet it is reported that this extravagant fiction was
taken seriously in some quarters. On the outskirts of Meridian,
Mississippi, a band of gypsies was encamped. The rumor gained
circulation that the Indians were coming back to retake their
land lost years ago. It was further rumored that the United States
Government was beginning a scheme to transport all negroes from
the South to break up the Black Belt. Passed from mouth to mouth,
unrestrainedly these reports became verities.
It was further asserted on the word and honor "of one in position
to know" that the Chicago packing houses needed and would get fifty
thousand negroes before the end of the year. One explanation of the
belief that the South was overrun with labor agents was the fact
that every strange face came to be recognized as a man from the North
looking for laborers. If he denied it, they simply thought he was
concealing his identity from the police, and if he said nothing,
his silence was regarded as sufficient affirmation. Hundreds of
disappointments are to be traced to the rumor that a train would leave
on a certain date. Hundreds would come to the station prepared to
leave and, when no agent appeared, purchased their own tickets.
The questions of wages and privileges were grossly featured. Some men,
on being questioned, supposed that it was possible for every common
laborer to receive from $4 to $10 a day, and that $50 a week was not
an unusual wage. The strength of this belief has been remarked by
several social agencies in the North which attempted to supply the
immigrants with work. The actual wages paid, though much in excess of
those they had been receiving, were often disappointing. Similarly
in the matter of privilege and "rights" it was later revealed that
unbounded liberty was not to be found in the North. The singular cases
of misconduct, against which the more sober minded preached, possibly
had their root in the beautiful and one-sided pictures of the North
which came to the South.
The _Chicago Defender_, a weekly negro newspaper, with its pronounced
radical utterances, its criticism of the South, its policy of
retaliation, etc., contributed greatly to the exodus.[36] Its
influence can be imagined when, after reading the southern white
papers with only occasional references to the negroes which might be
called commendable and numerous articles which were for the most part
distasteful, negroes could read the things they wanted to hear most,
expressed in a manner in which they would not dare express them. It
voiced the unexpressed thoughts of many and made accusations for which
they themselves would have been severely handled. Freud's theory of
the suppressed wish finds a happy illustration in this rage over the
_Chicago Defender_. Expressed in terms of figures, the circulation of
the paper at the beginning of the movement was something like 50,000.
In 1918 it had grown to 125,000. It had a large circulation in
Mississippi and the supply was usually bought up on the first day of
its arrival. Copies were passed around until worn out. One prominent
negro asserted that "negroes grab the _Defender_ like a hungry
mule grabs fodder." In Gulfport, Mississippi, a man was regarded
"intelligent" if he read the _Defender_. It was said that in Laurel,
Mississippi, old men who did not know how to read would buy it because
it was regarded as precious.
It was this paper that named the exodus "The Great Northern
Drive," and set the date May 15th, announced the arrivals and took
responsibility for inducing "the poor brethren" from the South. It was
accused of ruining Hattiesburg, Mississippi, by promoting this rush to
the North. The sale of this paper was, therefore, forbidden in several
towns in the South. A correspondent said: "White people are paying
more attention to the race in order to keep them in the South, but
the _Chicago Defender_ has emblazoned upon their minds 'Bound for the
Promised Land.'"
In answer to the warnings of the South against the rigors of the
northern winters, the _Defender_ said:
To die from the bite of frost is far more glorious than at the
hands of a mob. I beg you, my brother, to leave the benighted
land. You are a free man. Show the world that you will not let
false leaders lead you. Your neck has been in the yoke. Will
you continue to keep it there because some "white folks'
nigger" wants you to? Leave for all quarters of the globe. Get
out of the South. Your being there in the numbers in which you
are gives the southern politician too strong a hold on your
progress.... So much has been said through the white papers in
the South about the members of the race freezing to death in
the North. They freeze to death down South when they don't
take care of themselves. There is no reason for any human
being staying in the Southland on this bugaboo handed out by
the white press.[37]
If you can freeze to death in the North and be free, why
freeze to death in the South and be a slave, where your
mother, sister and daughter are raped and burned at the stake;
where your father, brother and sons are treated with contempt
and hung to a pole, riddled with bullets at the least mention
that he does not like the way he is treated. Come North
then, all you folks, both good and bad. If you don't behave
yourselves up here, the jails will certainly make you wish you
had. For the hard-working man there is plenty of work--if you
really want it. The _Defender_ says come.[38]
The idea that the South is a bad place, unfit for the habitation of
colored folk, was duly emphasized. Conditions most distasteful to
negroes were exaggerated and given first prominence. In this the
_Defender_ had a clear field, for the local colored newspapers dared
not make such unrestrained utterances.[39] In fact, reading the
_Chicago Defender_ provided a very good substitute for the knowledge
which comes through travel. It had the advantage of bringing the North
to them. Without fear of exaggeration it is safe to say its policy was
successful in inciting thousands of restless negroes to venture north,
where they were assured of its protection and the championship
of their cause. There are in Chicago migrants who attribute their
presence in the North to its encouraging pictures of relief from
conditions at home with which they became more and more dissatisfied,
as they read.
The setting of a definite date was another stimulus. The great
northern drive was scheduled to begin May 15, 1917. This date, or the
week following, singularly corresponds with the date of the heaviest
rush to the North, the periods of greatest temporary congestion and
the awakening of the North to the presence of their guests. Letters
to the _Chicago Defender_ and to the social agencies in the North
informed them that they were preparing to come in the great drive. One
of many such letters received is presented.
April 24, 1917.
Mr. R.S. Abbott,
Editor, the _Chicago Defender_,
Sir:
I have been reading the _Defender_ for one year or more, and
last February I read about the great northern drive to take
place May 15, on Thursday, and now I can hear so many people
speaking of an excursion to the North on the 15th of May for
$3. My husband is in the North already working, and he wants
us to come up in May, so I want to know if it is true about
the excursion. I am getting ready and, oh, so many others
also, and we want to know is that true so we can be in the
drive. So please answer at once. We are getting ready.
Yours,
This was perhaps the most popular date, but there were others, of
which August 15 was one. Usually the dates set were for Wednesday and
Saturday nights, following pay days.
Personal appeals in the form of letters have a recognized weight in
influencing action. The United States mail was about the most active
and efficient labor agent. The manner in which the first negroes left
made great opportunities for letter writing. It is to be remembered
that the departure of one person was regarded always in the light of
an experiment. The understanding existed between a man and his friends
that he would honestly inform them of conditions in the North.
Letters were passed around and read before large groups. A woman from
Hattiesburg is accredited with having sent back a letter which enticed
away over 200 persons. A tailor who had settled in a town of white
people in the West wrote a letter which was read in a church. It
explained the advantages of the free schools open to all, and the
privilege to ride and to go where one pleases. The reading of the
letter brought forth long and loud applause. A man who had left home,
writes back to his friend yet undecided:
Mike, old boy, I was promoted on the first of the month. I was
made first assistant to the head carpenter. When he is out of
place I take everything in charge and was raised to $95 per
month. You know I know my stuff. What's the news generally
around H'burg? I should have been here twenty years ago. I
just begin to feel like a man. It's a great deal of pleasure
in knowing that you have got some privileges. My children are
going to the same school with the whites and I don't have
to humble to no one. I have registered. Will vote the next
election and there isn't any 'yes, sir, and no, sir.' It's all
yes and no, and no, Sam, and Bill.
The man has long since been joined by his friend.
The pastor of a Hattiesburg church received a letter from one of his
members with the extravagant assertion that the people whose funerals
he had preached were in Chicago (meaning Heaven) because they were
good Christians. To give assurance on the question of weather migrants
in the North would mention the fact that they were writing with
their coats off. A fact which strengthened the belief in the almost
incredible wages offered in the North was the money sent back to the
families in the South. A man whose wife had preceded him wrote that
she was making $3.50 a day in charge of a bluing works in Chicago, and
actually sent home $15 every two weeks. Another man wrote that he was
in Gary working at his trade making sometimes as much as $7 a day. He
sent home $30 every two weeks. Fully one-half, or perhaps even more
of those who left, did so at the solicitation of friends through
correspondence.[40]
Despite the restraints on loose talk in encouragement of the exodus,
there were other means of keeping the subject alive. One method, of
course, was the circulation of literature from the North. One of the
most novel schemes was that of a negro dentist in a southern town who
had printed on the reverse side of his business cards quotations from
rather positive assertions by northerners on the migration.[41] The
northern press early welcomed the much needed negro laborers to the
North and leaders of thought in that section began to upbraid the
South for its antagonistic attitude towards the welfare of the
negroes, who at last had learned to seek a more congenial home.
A stronger influence than this, though not quite so frequent, was the
returned migrant who was a living example of the prosperity of the
North. It was a frequent complaint that these men were as effective as
labor agents in urging negro laborers to go north. There are reported
numerous instances of men who came to visit their families and
returned with thirty to forty men. It has been suspected, and with
a strong suggestion of truth, that many of these were supplied with
funds for the trip by the northern firms which employed them. A woman
whose daughter had gone north had been talking of her daughter's
success. The reports were so opposite to the record of the girl at
home that they were not taken seriously. Soon, however, the daughter
came home with apparently unlimited money and beautiful clothes, and
carried her mother back with her. This was sufficient. It was remarked
afterwards: "If she can make $2.50 a day as lazy as she was, I know I
can make $4."[42]
The labor agents were a very important factor in stimulating the
movement. The number at work in the South appears to have been greatly
exaggerated. Agents were more active in large cities where their
presence was not so conspicuous. It was difficult to discover because
of the very guarded manner in which they worked. One, for example,
would walk briskly down the street through a group of negroes and,
without turning his head, would say in a low tone, "Anybody want to go
to Chicago, see me." That was sufficient. Many persons were found
to remark frequently on the strange silence which negroes _en masse_
managed to maintain concerning the movement of the agents. A white man
remarked that it was the first time there had ever happened anything
about which he could not get full information from some negro. Agents
were reported, at one time or another, in every section from which the
migrants went. When the vigilance of the authorities restricted their
activities they began working through the mails. Many sections were
flooded with letters from the North to persons whose names had been
obtained from migrants in the North or through a quiet canvass of the
community by unobstructed solicitors.[43]
Poems on the migration were also strong stimuli. In some instances
arrests of persons circulating them were made. A bit of poetry which
received widespread popularity was one called "Bound for the Promised
Land." It was said that this piece of poetry was responsible for much
trouble. The _Chicago Defender_ reported on June 1, 1917, that five
young men were arraigned before Judge John E. Schwartz of Savannah,
Georgia, for reading poetry. The police contended that they were
inciting riot in the city and over Georgia. Two of the men were sent
for thirty days to Brown Farm, a place not fit for human beings. Tom
Amaca was arrested for having "Bound for the Promised Land," a poem
which had been recently published in the _Defender_. J.N. Chisholm
and A.P. Walker were arrested there because they were said to be
the instigators.[44] Another very popular poem widely circulated was
entitled "Farewell! We're Good and Gone." It was said that this
poem influenced thousands to go. Other poems on the migration were
"Northward Bound," "The Land of Hope" and "Negro Migration" and "The
Reason Why."
[Footnote 32: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.]
[Footnote 33: Ibid.]
[Footnote 34: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.]
[Footnote 35: Ibid.]
[Footnote 36: Some of the material prepared by the _Defender_ for
consumption in the South was as follows:
"Turn a deaf ear to everybody. You see they are not lifting their laws
to help you, are they? Have they stopped their Jim Crow cars? Can you
buy a Pullman sleeper where you wish? Will they give you a square deal
in court yet? When a girl is sent to prison she becomes the mistress
of the guards and others in authority, and women prisoners are put on
the streets to work--something they don't do to a white woman. And our
leaders will tell you the South is the best place for you. Turn a deaf
ear to the scoundrel, and let him stay. Above all, see to it that that
jumping-jack preacher is left in the South, for he means you no good
here in the North.... Once upon a time we permitted other people to
think for us--today we are thinking and acting for ourselves, with the
result that our 'friends' are getting alarmed at our progress. We'd
like to oblige these unselfish (?) souls and remain slaves in the
South; but to other sections of the country we have said, as the song
goes, 'I hear you calling me,' and have boarded the train, singing,
'Good-bye, Dixie Land.'"]
[Footnote 37: The following clippings are taken from these white
papers:
"Aged Negro Frozen to Death--Albany, Ga., February 8.
"Yesterday the dead body of Peter Crowder, an old negro, was found in
an out-of-the-way place where he had been frozen to death during the
recent cold snap."--_Macon Telegraph_.
"Dies from Exposure--Spartanburg, S.C., February 6.
"Marshall Jackson, a negro man, who lived on the farm of J.T. Harris
near Campobello, Sunday night froze to death."--_South Carolina
State_.
"Negro Frozen to Death in Fireless Gretna Hut.
"Coldest weather in the last four years claimed a victim Friday night,
when Archie Williams, a negro, was frozen to death in his bed in a
little hut in the outskirts of Gretna."--_New Orleans Item_, February
4.
"Negro Woman Frozen to Death Monday.
"Harriet Tolbert, an aged negro woman, was frozen to death in her
home at 18 Garibaldi Street early Monday morning during the severe
cold."--_Atlanta Constitution_, February 6.]
[Footnote 38: Articles such as the following kept alive the spirit of
the exodus:
"Tampa, Florida, January 19. J.T. King, supposed to be a race leader,
is using his wits to get on the good side of the white people by
calling a meeting to urge our people not to migrate north. King
has been termed a 'good nigger' by his pernicious activity on the
emigration question. Reports have been received here that all who have
gone north are at work and pleased with the splendid conditions in
the North. It is known here that in the North there is a scarcity of
labor; mills and factories are open to them. People are not paying
any attention to King and are packing and ready to travel north to the
'promised land.'"
"Jackson, Miss., March 23. J.H. Thomas, Birmingham, Alabama,
Brownsville Colony, has been here several weeks and is very much
pleased with the North. He is working at the Pullman Shops, making
twice as much as he did at home. Mr. Thomas says the 'exodus' will be
greater later on in the year, that he did not find four feet of snow
or would freeze to death. He lives at 346 East Thirty-fifth St."
"Huntsville, Alabama, January 19. Fifteen families, all members of
the race, left here today for Pittsburgh, Pa., where they will take
positions as butlers and maids, getting sixty to seventy-five dollars
a month against fifteen and twenty paid here. Most of them claim that
they have letters from their friends who went early and made good
saying that there was plenty of work, and this field of labor is
short owing to the vast amount of men having gone to Europe and not
returned."
"Shreveport, La., April 13. The Business Men's League held a meeting
here and the white daily papers reported that it was for the purpose
of discouraging people from going north. The meeting had no such
object. On the other hand, members of the race claim that on May 15th
they will be found leaving with the great northern drive."
"The northern invasion has already started, much earlier than
predicted. Many members of the race refused to wait until spring. They
have started despite the snow and cold. Last week thirty-one came here
from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and said they intended to stay. They
were well clothed, having heavy overcoats and rubber overshoes."
"Memphis, Tenn., June 1. Your correspondent took a walk to Central
station Saturday night just to see what was going on, and to his
surprise and delight, he saw gathered there between 1,500 and 2,000
race men and women. Number 4, due to leave for Chicago at 8:00
o'clock, was held up twenty minutes so that those people who hadn't
purchased tickets might be taken aboard. It was necessary to add two
additional eighty-foot steel coaches to the Chicago train in order to
accommodate the race people, and at the lowest calculation there were
more than 1,200 taken aboard."
"St. Louis, Mo., May 11. The _Defender_ propaganda to leave sections
of the South where they find conditions intolerable is receiving
a hearty response. A communication was received by a _Defender_
representative last week from Houston, Texas, asking for information
relative to conditions in this city and the writer stated a number
of persons were planning to leave Houston for this city later on. The
information was promptly and cheerfully given."
"Tallulah, La., January 19. This time it's a professor. Heretofore
it has been the preachers who have been paid by the white men of the
South to tell our people that the North is no place for them. A bigger
lie never was uttered. But now it is a professor. He is licking
the white man's hand to hold a little $35 job as a backwoods school
teacher. He got his name in the papers (white) as 'good nigger.' Just
because this 'would-be professor' has been making speeches, asking
that our people remain here and be treated like dogs, they are
starting a crusade north, and by Easter there will not be one left to
tell the tale."]
[Footnote 39: "Forest City, Ark., February 16. David B. Smith (white)
is on trial for life for the brutal murder of a member of the race,
W.H. Winford, who refused to be whipped like others. This white man
had the habit of making his 'slave' submit to this sort of punishment
and when Winford refused to stand for it, he was whipped to death with
a 'black snake' whip. The trial of Smith is attracting very little
attention. As a matter of fact, the white people here think nothing
of it as the dead man is a 'nigger.' This very act, coupled with other
recent outrages that have been heaped upon our people, are causing
thousands to leave, not waiting for the great spring movement in
May."]
[Footnote 40: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.]
[Footnote 41: "There is no class of people and no ethical question
that will not feel the effects of the war. The negroes of this
country who go to France to fight, or who replace workingmen who go as
soldiers will demand, and justly so, full American rights. The United
States can not stand before the world as the champion of freedom and
democracy and continue to burn men alive and lynch them without fair
trial. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
calls upon this country to 'clear her conscience before she can
fight for the world's good,' by abolishing lynching and ceasing
all oppression of negroes. This is a national problem and more
particularly one of the South. In Europe there are practically no race
distinctions. A negro can mix with white folk as an equal, just as a
Spaniard, for example, does here; even intermarriage is not regarded
as miscegenation. The race problem here is a different matter,
however, as even the more intelligent negroes themselves will
acknowledge. The negro should be assured all the protection and
rights that go with American citizenship, but in this is not involved
intermarriage or social equality."--_Leslie's Illustrated Weekly_,
October 13, 1917.
"The foreign laborer has been called home to bear arms for his
country. The daily death toll and waste and the recently enacted
immigration law make it certain that he will not soon return in great
numbers. As a result a large market exists for the negro laborer
in localities in which he would have been considered an impudent
trespasser had he attempted to enter a few years ago. The history of
the world from the days of Moses to the present shows that where
one race has been subjugated, oppressed or proscribed by another
and exists in large numbers, permanent relief has come in one or two
ways--amalgamation or migration. The thought of amalgamation is not to
be entertained. If conditions in the South for the colored man are
to be permanently improved, many of those who now live there should
migrate and scatter throughout the North, East and West. I believe the
present opportunity providential."--Hon. John C. Ashbury, Philadelphia
Bar.
"This is the psychological moment to say to the American white
government from every pulpit and platform and through every newspaper,
'Yes, we are loyal and patriotic. Boston Common, Bunker Hill,
Gettysburg, Fort Pillow, Appomattox, San Juan Hill and Carrizal will
testify to our loyalty. While we love our flag and country, we do not
believe in fighting for the protection of commerce on the high seas
until the powers that be give us at least some verbal assurance that
the property and lives of the members of our race are going to be
protected on land from Maine to Mississippi.' Let us have the courage
to say to the white American people, 'Give us the same rights which
you enjoy, and then we will fight by your side with all of our might
for every international right on land and sea.' If this kind of talk
is not loyalty, then I am disloyal; if this is not patriotism, then
I am unpatriotic; if this is treason, then I am a traitor. It is not
that I love Caesar less, but these black Romans more, who have been
true to the flag for two hundred and fifty years. It is infinitely
more disgraceful and outrageous to hang and burn colored men, boys and
women without a trial in the times of peace than it is for Germans
in times of war to blow up ships loaded with mules and
molasses."--Reverend A. Clayton Powell, New York, N.Y.]
[Footnote 42: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.]
[Footnote 43: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the
World War_.]
[Footnote 44: Ibid.]