Why Move?
What was the Great Migration?
The movement of millions of Black Americans from the South to cities in the North, Midwest, and West.
Did moving north mean Black migrants escaped all racial discrimination?
No. Discrimination continued in housing, employment, businesses, and other areas.
What Chicago neighborhood became an important center of Black community life during the Great Migration?
Bronzeville
What is a mortgage?
A loan used to purchase a home.
What does disinvestment mean for a neighborhood?
A lack or withdrawal of money and resources for things such as housing, businesses, and community services.
What is the difference between a push factor and a pull factor?
A push factor drives people away from a place; a pull factor attracts them somewhere else.
Identify two problems people faced in the tenement housing studied in class.
Any two: overcrowding, poor ventilation, limited light, unsanitary shared toilets, garbage, fire hazards, or neglected repairs.
What Black newspaper encouraged migration and shared information with Black readers?
The Chicago Defender.
What was redlining?
Discriminatory lending that denied or restricted loans in neighborhoods, often because Black people lived there.
Name two investments that could provide young people with opportunities and support.
Youth jobs, after-school programs, community centers, arts/music programs, school counselors, or similar examples from the activity.
A family leaves Mississippi because of racial violence and moves to Chicago for factory work. Identify the push factor and the pull factor.
Push: racial violence. Pull: factory jobs.
Some newly arrived families rented rooms in their homes to other people, called lodgers. Why might a family do this despite wanting more privacy?
To help pay rent when housing was too expensive for the family to afford alone.
Why was a Black-owned bank such as Binga Bank important?
It offered banking opportunities to Black individuals and businesses facing discrimination from white-owned banks.
Explain how owning a home can help a family build wealth over time.
As a family pays down its mortgage, its ownership stake grows. The home may also increase in value and can become an asset passed to family members.
How could keeping community centers open during evenings and weekends benefit a neighborhood?
It provides safe places to gather, activities, mentorship, and opportunities to build relationships.
How did World War I help create opportunities for Black migrants?
Factories increased production while immigration slowed and workers left for military service, creating demand for labor.
Explain how housing discrimination could contribute to overcrowding.
Restricting where Black families could live concentrated demand in limited areas. Families might share small spaces or take in lodgers to cover rent.
Explain two ways churches or organizations such as the Urban League could help newcomers.
They could provide social support, assistance finding opportunities, advocacy, information, or connections that helped migrants build community.
Explain how denying loans to many families could affect an entire neighborhood.
It could limit home purchases and repairs, contribute to deteriorating buildings, and reduce investment throughout the neighborhood.
How could preventing evictions help both a family and its neighborhood?
Families maintain stable housing, and neighborhoods retain residents and relationships rather than experiencing frequent displacement.
A Black family owns property and earns a steady income in the South. Explain why they might still decide to leave.
Economic success did not protect them from Jim Crow, racial violence, or discrimination. They might seek greater freedom, safety, or better treatment.
A Black family moves from Texas to Chicago and earns about the same wages as before. Explain two reasons they might still consider the move worthwhile.
Greater freedom from southern Jim Crow restrictions, better working conditions, opportunities for their children, or connections to supportive Black institutions. Students should explain two distinct benefits.
Someone says, “Bronzeville was only a place of hardship.” Use two examples from the gallery walk to challenge that claim.
Answers should explain how businesses, newspapers, banks, churches, public forums, recreation, or celebrations supported opportunity, culture, pride, and community.
Two families have similar incomes. One can buy a home; the other is denied a mortgage because of its neighborhood. Explain how this could affect their children decades later.
The family able to buy may build home equity and pass on property or money. The excluded family loses that opportunity, potentially creating a wealth gap across generations.
A neighborhood has limited job opportunities and few places for teens to spend time. Choose two initiatives from Mayor for a Day and explain how each would address these problems.
For example: youth jobs provide income and work experience; community centers provide places for recreation, mentorship, and connection. Accept other well-explained choices.