"The
Great Migration: Then and Now -- Fleeing Terror, Searching for Jobs
and Equality," is the theme of the 45th People's World African
American History Month celebration on Sunday, February 24 in New
Haven. The day includes a march, arts and writing competition, guest
speaker, drumming and dance.
Some
stories will be told of the many African American families in New
Haven who trace their roots in the city to the great migration from
the South in the 1930's and 40's when companies like Winchester
recruited workers to come up from North Carolina, South Carolina,
Alabama and Georgia. They were fleeing Klan terror and looking for a
better life.
Stories
will also be told of the migrants from Central American countries
coming to New Haven and the United States today, fleeing terror and
economic devastation in their countries and hoping to find new
opportunities for their families.
The
"Jobs for Youth - Jobs for All" march will call on Yale to
meet its signed commitment to hire from neighborhoods like Dwight,
Dixwell, Newhall, Fair Haven and the Hill with high unemployment. The
march leaves the New Haven Peoples Center, 37 Howe Street, at 2:30 pm
and will wind through the Dwight neighborhood to Troup School, 259
Edgewood Avenue, for the 4:00 pm program.
Guest
speaker Chauncey K. Robinson, journalist and social media editor of
peoplesworld.org from Los Angeles, California believes that writing
and media, in any capacity, should help to reflect the world around
us, and be tools to help bring about progressive change. She says she
seeks to make sure topics that affect working class people, peoples
of color, and women are constantly in the spotlight.
The
program will include drumming by Brian Jarawa Gray and African dance
with Ice the Beef.
Prizes
and acknowledgments of entries to the Arts and Writing Competition
grades 8 to 12 will be presented. Students are asked to reflect
in artwork, essay, poetry, rap or song about grandparents or great
grandparents who came up from the South in the past, or about someone
who came up from Latin America or elsewhere recently. "What did
they find? How
can we continue the struggle for good jobs and equal rights to
fulfill the dreams of those who came and made New Haven home?
What are your dreams for a better life?" Entry deadline is
February 14. For information e-mail ct-pww@pobox.com
During
the Great Migration (1916 to 1970), six million African Americans
left the South. They moved to cities like New Haven in the North and
the West. They were fleeing discrimination, lynchings, denied rights
and a lack of jobs. They were searching for a better life for
themselves and their children.
As
they settled they found that segregation and racism were not just in
the South. The migration gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement and
before that to the art, literature and music of the Harlem
Renaissance that stirred the country and the world.
Artist
Jacob Lawrence created a series of paintings about the Great
Migration in 1940. He said, "And the migrants kept
coming...their struggles and triumphs ring true today. People all
over the world are still on the move, trying to build better lives
for themselves and for their families."
In
2018 famed activist and scholar Angela Davis said, “I
believe that the major civil rights issue of the 21st century is
the issue of immigrant rights.”
