Bridges of Memory: Chicago's First Wave of Black Migration
Oral history of the first order, Bridges of Memory lets us hear the
voices of those who left social, political, and economic oppression
for political freedom and opportunity such as they'd never
known - and for new forms of prejudice and segregation. These
children and grandchildren of ex-slaves found work in the
stockyards and steel mills of Chicago, settled and started small
businesses in the "Black Belt" on the South Side, and
brought forth the jazz, blues, and gospel that the city is now
known for. Historian Timuel D. Black Jr., himself the son of
first-generation migrants to Chicago, interviews a wide
cross-section of African Americans whose remarks and reflections
touch on issues ranging from fascism to Jim Crow segregation to the
origin of the blues. Their recollections comprise a vivid record of
a neighborhood, a city, a society, and a people undergoing dramatic
and unprecedented changes.
