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A review by bioniclib
Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Morgan Jerkins
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)