Great Migrations: Past and Present
The Great Migration (1917-1970) of more than six million African Americans out of the South to other regions of the United States is one of the most important, courageous, and consequential movements in our nation’s history. In search of true freedom, equality, and opportunity, those brave migrants – citizen-refugees in their own country fleeing racism, abuse, enforced poverty, and terror – transformed American culture, society, demographics, and politics in countless ways. As they arrived in their destination cities in the West and North, African American migrants found themselves facing different forms of segregation, hostility, inequality, and violence, a caste system “by fact” rather than “by law.” Nonetheless, as they traveled, they brought with them their music, dreams, foods, and cultural practices, their faith, talent, and unshakeable belief that they, too deserved the full rights of citizenship delineated in the U.S. Constitution.
University of Houston Honors College students in Dr. Irene Guenther’s Fall 2020 modern U.S. History classes examined in-depth the Great Migration as it occurred, its long-term consequences, and its current manifestations. Students then wrote research papers about current issues such as health disparities, income inequality, voter suppression, maternal mortality rates, racial terror, incarceration, and the history of blues and jazz, to name just a few. They also created wide-ranging art, literary, film, photography, digital, podcast, and music projects to educate themselves and the public about this transformative, yet largely unrecognized movement and its lasting legacies. Since the pandemic has made in-person exhibitions impossible, the students hope that this online exhibition of their creative projects will inform viewers about not only the Great Migration, but the ongoing systemic inequalities that must be confronted and addressed.
10 a.m. Class Projects 11 a.m. Class Projects 2:30 p.m. Class Projects
10 a.m. Class
Isaac Benedict, Aaron Hart, Matthew Van Houten: "Lynchings in Texas" visual
Zosia Bulhak: "Fear, Prejudice, Privilege" visual
Marie Collazo: "We Shall Overcome" visual
Luis Felipe Galleno: "The Railroad to Nowhere" visual
Jasmine Garcia: "The Line" poem
Claire Gregory: "Nina Simone and the Power of 'Mississippi Goddam'" visual
Brianna Johnson and Marissa Ortiz: "Women of the Great Migration" visual
Michael Alexander Klushkin: "Voting Obstacles" visual
Daniel Lee: "Inequality: The Past and the Present" website
Amina Malik: "Fragmentary Colossal Head of a Black Youth" visual and timelapse
Christopher James McCauley: "Parallels and Pathways" audio
Alyssa Mcneil: "Teach Me How to Hate" poem
Dom Nanquil: "The Art of the Great Migration" website
Louis Ogbogu: "Uproot" visual
Elizabeth Louise Sand: “This is Mississippi, the Middle of the Iceberg” visual
Preston Satterfield: "Wealth and Education Disparity" website
Duncan Sikaddour: "Through Different Lenses" visual
Conlan Taylor: "Musings on a Park Bench" poem and photo
Reena Zou: "Creative Work" cross stitch
Tariq Achor Zyad: "Travel in Jim Crow America" website
11 a.m. Class
Edip Agirbaser and Ariya Ansari: "The Great Migration and Jazz" website
Rose Alhajri and Gianno Tirado: “Alone in the Blues” visual
Sammy Boujri: "Eugenics and the Caste System in 20th-century America" paper
Hailey Carson: "Two Wings" visual
Justin Chan: "Field of Broken Dreams" poem
Lilly Chipman: "A Problem That Won’t Solve Itself" visual
Dayley Fancis: website
Lainey Hannemann: "Was The Great Migration as “Heavenly” as It Seemed?" visual
Kayla Huhn: "A Matter of Perspective" visual
Rediet Kebere: "How Long Will It Take Till Blacks Gain Freedom in the United States?" visual
Andrea Lastra and Michael Ibarra: "The Failure of Our Law" poem
Ana Paola Torres Lopez: "Display Dolls" visual
Wafa Mazhari: "The History and Impact of Racial Inequality and Disparities in Education, Employment, and Housing" paper
Alexander Mosqueda and Guarav Singh: "Falsely Accused" video project
Lindsey Muscara: "Caste Contrast" visual
Eric Ou: "The Ties Between Health and Discrimination: A Diagnosis" visual
Anna Pham: "Silenced Tale" sonnet
Aashrita Sadhanala: "Beginning of the Wealth Gap" visual
Casey Shaw: "Price of the American Dream" visual
Meagan Smallwood: "Separate but Unequal" visual
Samaya Watson: "Traditional Terrorism" podcast
Daniel Yebo Yisa: "Freedom in Family" poem reading
2:30 p.m. Class
Emma Bond and Olivia Garcia: "Lynchings across America" podcast
Jamie Bull: "Great Migration through Tap" video
Jonathan Eisenbrandt: "Freedom into New Slavery" poem
John Everett: "The Racial Wealth Gap" paper
Mughees Faiz and Adriene Mikayla Zermeno: "New Music, Same Injustice" music
Le'Aundrea Fields: "Jim Crow" poster
Jerry Howard and R.J. Poe: "The Fog of US Grievances" illustration
Mia Ibarra: "Chutes and Ladders" game
Baycha Isik: "The Night Performance" visual
Noah Kopesky: "The Great Migration" tableau
Anthony Macias: "Segregation in Schools 2020" visual
Tessa Mack: "The Weight of a College Degree" visual
Trish Nguyen: "The Disparity between Black Education and White Education" video
Saloni Patel: "A Strained Heart" visual
Shivani Patel and Kayla Stagg: "The Fears of Black Americans" podcast
Raymond Saba: "Migrant Quilt" quilt
Gabriel Segovia-Plate: website
Sumaya Siddiqui: "Resistance in Sports" visual
Kevin Tran: "Music" video
Orion Van Wagner: "Transcending Time" visual
To view images of additional projects, click here.