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Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Morgan Jerkins
bioniclib's review against another edition
5.0
Ms. Jerkins Journey was a fantastic read. Below are the notes I took while reading.
“Much of the information lost during the major internal migrations of African Americans has yet to be accounted for. Documentation take precedence over oral history - a Eurocentric outlook that prioritizes the written word over our own voices.” (6)
Different Manifestations of Racism
Many former plantations, which often includes slave graveyards, are converted to resorts that white people vacation at. That’s an…uncomfortable continuation of the racism inherit in those places. (58)
“In 1641 Massachusetts became the first colony to recognize slavery.” (101) Source[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr3.html]
“There is no black American who is 100 percent black because blackness has nothing to do with blood purity. We became black through systems. New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie once said, taking from W.E.B. Du Bois, with regard to one of these systems, namely Jim Crow, that ‘people weren’t subjected to Jim Crow because they were black. Rather, what made them black is that they were a subject of Jim Crow.’” (135)
Native Americans were allowed to own slaves as a way to prevent them from harboring escaped slaves. Free and enslaved blacks also were removed as part of The Trail of Tears. (160)
Some Freedmen in Oklahoma with Cherokee blood had to sue to be recognized as tribal citizens. The Tribal council opposed it. (166)
Even the vaunted California practiced blockbusting and other more violent forms of racism. (214)
“Gang culture is a byproduct of black migration to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and other cities, and the socioeconomic and existential problems they found when they arrived.” (229)
Black people are getting priced out of the neighborhoods that the whites fled from during the great migration. Now the whites are moving back in. (240)
Riots
The Watts Riot- On August 11, 1965, police stopped Marquette Frye. The dude was sauced. He was compliant as he was taken away. Then his moms and his bro showed up. He starting fighting, his mom started fighting. The resulting riot left 34 dead (23 by the cops or National Guard) and 1,032 injured. About 3,500 were arrested. I can see the Fryes were in the wrong here but the explosion of violence shows the reaction was from more than just this isolated incident. (219)
After the Watts riot the gangs banded together. There was no turf wars, black people were intent on keeping their people safe from whites. When police and FBI took on organizations like The Black Panthers, only then did the gang violence restart. (224)
Zoot Suit Riots- June 3, 1943 white dudes searched for and attacked any people wearing Zoot suits, almost always Mexican. The big baggy suits were an affront to the cloth rationing that WWII had forced. (229)
Rodney King Riots- 1992 after the cops that beat him were acquitted resulted in 50 deaths and about 16,000 reported crimes, 2,300 injuries, 7,000 fires, 12,000 and $1 billion in property damage. It took the damage crown from the Watts Riots. (233)
Numbers
Between 1910 and 1930 ~195,000 migrants came from Georgia.
In 1950 Georgia was the only one of the big 5 (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia) to have a smaller African American population than it did in 1920; about 145,000 fewer. (12)
The International African American Museum reports that 80% of African Americans can trace their ancestry back to Charleston, SC. The didn’t necessarily stay there but that’s where they arrived from Africa. (18)
“At one point, Atlantic City’s black population surpassed that of Harlem.” Because of glut of service industry jobs. (25)
Words
Watchnight service is a New Years Eve service that African Americans used to honor New Years Eve 1862, when African Americans gathered to wait for January 1st 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation to take effect. (14)
Kumbaya is Gullah for “Come by here”. (55)
Root Doctor has a witchcraft connotation but really originated because slaves couldn’t get a proper doctor to treat them. So they tried to find a way to use the land to cure their ills. (56)
On Hilton Head Island “the word plantation is code for luxury and gated communities have caused the natives to become purposefully displaced.” (84) They allowed blacks to buy land in the years after the Civil War but eventually white bought it outright, forced them out through threats (and acts) of violence, or raised the property taxes which forced the blacks to move out of the land their ancestors farmed as slaves.
Religion
On the island of Sapelo off the coast of Georgia, blacks are buried facing east for two reasons. First, that’s where Gabriel (only blacks said it’ll be him) will call people to heaven on judgment day. Second, it’s closer to African where they hope their souls will return. (37) Bad people were buried facing South, “toward hell or, more or less the same thing, to remain in The South. (60)
The Pentecostal Religion was founded by “a black Baptist preacher from Texas named William J. Seymour and a white Methodist evangelist from Topeka, Kansas, named Charles F Parham. Pentacostalism is largely characterized by three elements: baptism, speaking in tongues (glossolalia), and divine healing.” (53)
“Much of the information lost during the major internal migrations of African Americans has yet to be accounted for. Documentation take precedence over oral history - a Eurocentric outlook that prioritizes the written word over our own voices.” (6)
Different Manifestations of Racism
Many former plantations, which often includes slave graveyards, are converted to resorts that white people vacation at. That’s an…uncomfortable continuation of the racism inherit in those places. (58)
“In 1641 Massachusetts became the first colony to recognize slavery.” (101) Source[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr3.html]
“There is no black American who is 100 percent black because blackness has nothing to do with blood purity. We became black through systems. New York Times opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie once said, taking from W.E.B. Du Bois, with regard to one of these systems, namely Jim Crow, that ‘people weren’t subjected to Jim Crow because they were black. Rather, what made them black is that they were a subject of Jim Crow.’” (135)
Native Americans were allowed to own slaves as a way to prevent them from harboring escaped slaves. Free and enslaved blacks also were removed as part of The Trail of Tears. (160)
Some Freedmen in Oklahoma with Cherokee blood had to sue to be recognized as tribal citizens. The Tribal council opposed it. (166)
Even the vaunted California practiced blockbusting and other more violent forms of racism. (214)
“Gang culture is a byproduct of black migration to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and other cities, and the socioeconomic and existential problems they found when they arrived.” (229)
Black people are getting priced out of the neighborhoods that the whites fled from during the great migration. Now the whites are moving back in. (240)
Riots
The Watts Riot- On August 11, 1965, police stopped Marquette Frye. The dude was sauced. He was compliant as he was taken away. Then his moms and his bro showed up. He starting fighting, his mom started fighting. The resulting riot left 34 dead (23 by the cops or National Guard) and 1,032 injured. About 3,500 were arrested. I can see the Fryes were in the wrong here but the explosion of violence shows the reaction was from more than just this isolated incident. (219)
After the Watts riot the gangs banded together. There was no turf wars, black people were intent on keeping their people safe from whites. When police and FBI took on organizations like The Black Panthers, only then did the gang violence restart. (224)
Zoot Suit Riots- June 3, 1943 white dudes searched for and attacked any people wearing Zoot suits, almost always Mexican. The big baggy suits were an affront to the cloth rationing that WWII had forced. (229)
Rodney King Riots- 1992 after the cops that beat him were acquitted resulted in 50 deaths and about 16,000 reported crimes, 2,300 injuries, 7,000 fires, 12,000 and $1 billion in property damage. It took the damage crown from the Watts Riots. (233)
Numbers
Between 1910 and 1930 ~195,000 migrants came from Georgia.
In 1950 Georgia was the only one of the big 5 (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia) to have a smaller African American population than it did in 1920; about 145,000 fewer. (12)
The International African American Museum reports that 80% of African Americans can trace their ancestry back to Charleston, SC. The didn’t necessarily stay there but that’s where they arrived from Africa. (18)
“At one point, Atlantic City’s black population surpassed that of Harlem.” Because of glut of service industry jobs. (25)
Words
Watchnight service is a New Years Eve service that African Americans used to honor New Years Eve 1862, when African Americans gathered to wait for January 1st 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation to take effect. (14)
Kumbaya is Gullah for “Come by here”. (55)
Root Doctor has a witchcraft connotation but really originated because slaves couldn’t get a proper doctor to treat them. So they tried to find a way to use the land to cure their ills. (56)
On Hilton Head Island “the word plantation is code for luxury and gated communities have caused the natives to become purposefully displaced.” (84) They allowed blacks to buy land in the years after the Civil War but eventually white bought it outright, forced them out through threats (and acts) of violence, or raised the property taxes which forced the blacks to move out of the land their ancestors farmed as slaves.
Religion
On the island of Sapelo off the coast of Georgia, blacks are buried facing east for two reasons. First, that’s where Gabriel (only blacks said it’ll be him) will call people to heaven on judgment day. Second, it’s closer to African where they hope their souls will return. (37) Bad people were buried facing South, “toward hell or, more or less the same thing, to remain in The South. (60)
The Pentecostal Religion was founded by “a black Baptist preacher from Texas named William J. Seymour and a white Methodist evangelist from Topeka, Kansas, named Charles F Parham. Pentacostalism is largely characterized by three elements: baptism, speaking in tongues (glossolalia), and divine healing.” (53)
thechanelmuse's review against another edition
5.0
From the title alone, I knew this book was going to feel familiar. Morgan Jerkins' familial journey through Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California made me think of my own. I am the grand daughter of grandparents who headed to New York during the Great Migration by way of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina stretching back to Virginia.
Being a Black American is not only a layered identity with interwoven lineage and rich, connected cultures throughout the upper and deep South; it's a complex one when you tie in the umpteenth times we've been reclassified for centuries on our ancestral land, as well as being questioned for who we are, not fully understood for who we are, and the erasure (ethnocide) of who we are, especially through US documents and laws.
I've been working on my genealogy for well over 10 years. Wandering in Strange Lands doesn't just take me back to that first day of curiosity and confirmation while uncovering the paper trail of my ancestors (that goes back to the 1500s on a few lines), it's an everyday feeling the more I continue to uncover. It'll never dissipate, especially being able to unearth the identity of ancestors whose names haven't been said for hundreds of years.
Being a Black American is not only a layered identity with interwoven lineage and rich, connected cultures throughout the upper and deep South; it's a complex one when you tie in the umpteenth times we've been reclassified for centuries on our ancestral land, as well as being questioned for who we are, not fully understood for who we are, and the erasure (ethnocide) of who we are, especially through US documents and laws.
I've been working on my genealogy for well over 10 years. Wandering in Strange Lands doesn't just take me back to that first day of curiosity and confirmation while uncovering the paper trail of my ancestors (that goes back to the 1500s on a few lines), it's an everyday feeling the more I continue to uncover. It'll never dissipate, especially being able to unearth the identity of ancestors whose names haven't been said for hundreds of years.
veganheathen's review against another edition
4.0
This was such an interesting book. I learned so much about the great migration and the different traditions and culture of people who lived in some of the very specific areas that Morgan Jerkins visits and discusses. What a great way for her to not only get in touch with her own roots, but learn and share about the ongoing oppression so many people of colour still face in ways that a lot of white people have probably never noticed.
lillimoore's review against another edition
3.0
"No one spoke about the past—the goal was to move forward and never look back."
Morgan Jerkins, an up-and-coming young Black writer from New Jersey, didn't know the full extent of her family history. Like many Black Americans, she knew she had roots in the South and ancestors who were enslaved in this country, but she had never fully connected with those roots. Intrigued by social patterns that began with the slave trade and repeated in new ways during the Great Migration, she embarks on a nationwide journey to uncover not only her own family history but many of the untold stories of Black American history.
Jerkins ventures to Georgia and South Carolina to learn more about the Gullah-Geechee population that occupies the Lowlands of the South and has been consistently displaced and overlooked by local government agencies, before moving on to the Creole populations of Louisiana and their unique cultural history in that region. She then travels to Oklahoma to investigate the ties between Black people and Indigenous people on the Trail of Tears, an event during which many people of both races were forcibly removed from their own homelands and made to exist elsewhere. Her search for a more fully-fleshed out history of Black people in America finally concludes in Los Angeles, where many Black people relocated in hopes of new opportunities not previously available to them in other parts of the country, only to be consistently caught up in the police brutality that influenced the development of gangs initially meant to protect Black folks against corrupt law enforcement. She does all this through the lens of her own family and understanding her roots by coming to know who they were and are and what their journey has entailed.
This book definitely opened my eyes to new populations and stories in history that I did not know much about and for that I am grateful. However, I was hoping to learn more about the Great Migration itself. Not only that, but this book was for me difficult to follow, which is why this not-so-well-written review is probably reflecting that. It was very oddly structured and I think it could have been helped with another round or two of editing, or maybe some new eyes on it altogether. Maybe she could have co-written it with another Black author, I'm just not sure. The premise behind this book is really stellar, but the execution just didn't quite resonate with me. I found myself spacing out a lot while listening to it and wonder if I would have been better off physically reading it; maybe I would have better digested the information and it might have had more of an emotional impact on me, but I was left wanting.
I know the book was supposed to be a memoir and pertain directly to Morgan Jerkins' personal experience and her family, but for me this was lacking the depth—emotionally and factually—that could have taken it from passable to phenomenal. The information that was included was well-researched but awkwardly presented. I would have liked to learn more about Chicago and Detroit and other parts of the North. It just felt like pieces of the puzzle were missing. I hope to come back to this book in text sometime and see if I can maybe piece together a better review or even have a better reading experience, but for now, I'm just happy to be through with this book which felt like a task to me and hopefully on to some better material before the end of Black History Month!
Morgan Jerkins, an up-and-coming young Black writer from New Jersey, didn't know the full extent of her family history. Like many Black Americans, she knew she had roots in the South and ancestors who were enslaved in this country, but she had never fully connected with those roots. Intrigued by social patterns that began with the slave trade and repeated in new ways during the Great Migration, she embarks on a nationwide journey to uncover not only her own family history but many of the untold stories of Black American history.
Jerkins ventures to Georgia and South Carolina to learn more about the Gullah-Geechee population that occupies the Lowlands of the South and has been consistently displaced and overlooked by local government agencies, before moving on to the Creole populations of Louisiana and their unique cultural history in that region. She then travels to Oklahoma to investigate the ties between Black people and Indigenous people on the Trail of Tears, an event during which many people of both races were forcibly removed from their own homelands and made to exist elsewhere. Her search for a more fully-fleshed out history of Black people in America finally concludes in Los Angeles, where many Black people relocated in hopes of new opportunities not previously available to them in other parts of the country, only to be consistently caught up in the police brutality that influenced the development of gangs initially meant to protect Black folks against corrupt law enforcement. She does all this through the lens of her own family and understanding her roots by coming to know who they were and are and what their journey has entailed.
This book definitely opened my eyes to new populations and stories in history that I did not know much about and for that I am grateful. However, I was hoping to learn more about the Great Migration itself. Not only that, but this book was for me difficult to follow, which is why this not-so-well-written review is probably reflecting that. It was very oddly structured and I think it could have been helped with another round or two of editing, or maybe some new eyes on it altogether. Maybe she could have co-written it with another Black author, I'm just not sure. The premise behind this book is really stellar, but the execution just didn't quite resonate with me. I found myself spacing out a lot while listening to it and wonder if I would have been better off physically reading it; maybe I would have better digested the information and it might have had more of an emotional impact on me, but I was left wanting.
I know the book was supposed to be a memoir and pertain directly to Morgan Jerkins' personal experience and her family, but for me this was lacking the depth—emotionally and factually—that could have taken it from passable to phenomenal. The information that was included was well-researched but awkwardly presented. I would have liked to learn more about Chicago and Detroit and other parts of the North. It just felt like pieces of the puzzle were missing. I hope to come back to this book in text sometime and see if I can maybe piece together a better review or even have a better reading experience, but for now, I'm just happy to be through with this book which felt like a task to me and hopefully on to some better material before the end of Black History Month!
akmatz's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
This is a critical book to learn about how migrations have formed the identity of black people in America and the erasure of this complex identity in history and legality. Recommend to anyone on an unpacking journey.
dreamgalaxies's review against another edition
4.0
This book effectively takes on black migration and identity in America. Much more of a history book than a memoir despite the family focus.
liketheday's review against another edition
2.0
This is not the kind of book I would have read on my own, but I listened to the whole thing to talk knowledgeably at book club. I liked a lot of the pieces of this book but didn't think it added up to a cohesive whole.