12021-04-19T17:26:49+00:004ffbb0ebe0df93a984840a734f34453d39e1ca0a121Alvinetta Burks oral history conducted by Dasha Beniash, Hanna Addisplain2021-04-19T17:26:49+00:004ffbb0ebe0df93a984840a734f34453d39e1ca0a
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12021-04-19T17:26:49+00:00Great Migration1From World War I through World War II, six million African Americans moved from the South to the urban North, including Midwestern cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis.image_header2021-04-19T17:26:49+00:00
Above: Union Station, Chicago, 1948. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Archives, Newberry Library. View catalog record
Marion Perkins
In 1916, at the age of 8, Marion Perkins moved from Arkansas to Chicago to live with his aunt, joining the ranks of over 500,000 African Americans who relocated from the south during a period now referred to as the Great Migration. The future sculptor lived in Bronzeville, Chicago’s predominately African American neighborhood and home to many of its most outstanding writers and artists. Perkins had little to no formal training as a sculptor as a young man. He scavenged stone and wood from abandoned buildings around Chicago for his sculptures. Perkins would carve stone on the sidewalk while managing a newsstand, which caught the attention of members of the Bronzeville art community. Between 1942 and 1957, Perkins exhibited regularly in Chicago, receiving praise and awards for his sculptures and recognition as an important artist of his day. This sculpture is a commentary on the Cold War-era threat of atomic warfare. Perkins considered the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki two of the greatest crimes of humanity. This figure is seen craning his head backwards, scanning the skies for any approaching threat. —Illinois State Museum
Oral Histories
In collaboration with the South Side Home Movie Project, students at the University of Chicago interviewed four people whose families experienced the Great Migration. After sharing their own brief stories of migration, the students provide a short overview of the Great Migration and introduce the personal accounts of Jeannette Foreman, Ghian Foreman, Alvinetta Burks, and Susan McClelland. Students provide context for audio clips of the oral histories, highlighting the role of church, education, and family connections in each life story. They also explore the relationship between race and place, past and present, within a broad context of migration as a human and American experience.
