In 1992 and 1993 City Lore coordinated an oral history project focusing on the Northern migration experience and the maintenance of southern folkways within New York City's African-American church community. Fifty men and women who migrated from...
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In 1992 and 1993 City Lore coordinated an oral history project focusing on the Northern migration experience and the maintenance of southern folkways within New York City's African-American church community. Fifty men and women who migrated from the South to New York during the post World War II years were interviewed. Topics covered in the interviews include how and why individuals left the South (generally for economic reasons, not blatant racism and violence); their experiences adjusting to life in New York; their retention of Southern cultural practices (food, especially soul food, gospel music, crafts including quilting, worship practices and church activities); the individuals' ongoing connections to the South through regular family visits, homecoming, etc.; and their thoughts on moving back to the South (or for those few who had already moved from New York, they compared their lives in both areas). The informants recount their positive relations with other black families and with white neighbors in the South and school experiences with strict yet caring black teachers. Neighborhood life in Harlem, central Brooklyn and parts of Queens during the 1940's through the early 1960's were recounted, as well as discussions covering life up to the early 1990's during the time of the interviews is included. The New York City interviews were conducted by City Lore Project Director Ray Allen and the Virginia interviews were conducted by Dr. Marilyn White.
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