The Great Migration

As we get ready to discover and learn about the Harlem Renaissance--and all of its associated cultural and political implications--it's very important to find some background information about how the Harlem Renaissance began, and where the people came from who helped inspire and create this wonderful cultural phenomenon that still impacts our nation today.  Far too often, we fail to understand how significant historical events link together and bring us where we are today.  This brief webquest will introduce you to the Great Migration and how the migration was a direct result of the ending of the Civil War and the movement of millions of free African Americans looking for a new start.  This webquest will also show you how a world war, being fought across the Atlantic, impacted the lives of blacks stuck in the poverty of share cropping in the rural South.  And finally, how a new culture of music and art grew out of a people's need, and desire, to live free and set their own cultural destiny.