Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North, Chicago, Illinois, 1919

Between WWI and WWII, over 3.5 million African Americans moved from the rural South to Northern cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and New York. Jim Crow segregation laws, the rise of Ku Klux Klan violence, low-paying jobs, and limited opportunities encouraged many African Americans to leave their homes in search of a better future up north. The industrial North offered young people the hope of better jobs in factories. In addition, life in the North had less regimented segregation and allowed African Americans more freedom and security. However, race relations in the North were by no means perfect or fair. African-American children still attended segregated schools of poorer quality than those of their peers. Racially motivated violence existed in the North as well — for example, a large race riot erupted in Chicago in 1919, which raged for 13 days and left 38 people dead. In response to the continued racism, African Americans founded organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909, to offer support, crusade for equality, and establish a strong and creative community. The strength of this African-American community in the North encouraged the development of African-American music, newspapers, literature, dance, and art.

Meet Nellie Lee Love

Nellie Lee Love’s family, like many other African Americans, left their home in rural Tennessee with hopes of a better life in Chicago. Read her explanation of her father’s reasons for wanting to move to Chicago.

Listening to Daddy talk about Chicago makes my toes tingle. He says some Colored people live in mansions on paved streets lined with trees… He told us there are automobiles going from one place to another on both sides of the street at the same time, and houses with running water, electric lights, and telephones — and none of these people are even rich. Can you imagine that? Then Daddy told us that he had come back to get Mama and me, because he is planning to return to Chicago and open a funeral home.

“Why open a funeral home in Chicago when you have one right here?” Grandma Nessie asked.

“It’s not the same,” said Daddy. “There are possibilities in Chicago that we can’t even dream about here. It is a good thing for us to go.”