Newly arrived African American History books,
including the following:
Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration, by James Grossman (TPB, 1991, $2- has a small amount of markings in the margins.)
Southern blacks moved north in 1916 to find "freedom". At first these black immigrants to Chicago thought their life was good. They could earn high wages in cash, vote, and go to integrated schools. But as Ralph Ellison would explain 25 years later, freedom means having "a democracy in which the Negro will be free to define himself for what he is, and within the framework of that democracy, for what he desires to be." More than migration would be needed to accomplish that goal. More importantly, is that goal being met even now? We have a black president, but is that enough?
To be found in the African American section (Avail. 9/7)
