| Goin'
to Chicago
Goin' to Chicago traces this history through the personal stories of a group of older Chicagoans born mostly in the Mississippi Delta. They share their bitter recollections of sharecropping - owing half of fish crop to the landowner, each beginning back-breaking labor in the fields at ten. A steelworker, newspaper editor, blues musician and others movingly recall their journeys up Hwy. 61 to Chicago in search of comparatively well-paying factory jobs. On the South Side they built a vibrant city-within-a-city of thriving black businesses and civic institutions, proudly referred to as "Bronzeville." They recall that
after World War II increasingly self-assertive and prosperous blacks
led a bitterly resisted struggle to open up fair housing opportunities
outside the ghetto. But just as the American Dream was coming into reach
for some, the steel mills and stockyards closed, leaving newer immigrants
trapped in decaying public housing projects and inner-city despair.
|
"Goin'
to Chicago
is a saga...It glows with insight, humor in adversity and hope. It's
a beaut!" "Adds tremendously
to our understanding of one of the largest human migrations...A compelling
story all Americans should see." "Powerful and
evocative...The triumphs and tribulations of an entire generation are
encapsulated in this film."
Free Facilitator Guide Shipped with Purchase Video
Purchase: $195
|
Goin'
to Chicago chronicles one of the most momentous yet least heralded
sagas of American history - the great migration of African Americans
from the rural South to the cities of the North and West after World
War II. Four million black people created a dynamic urban culture outside
the South, changing America forever.
