3 Chapter 2 Heading North

Chapter 2 Heading North Cotton had long been the South's most important crop. In the 1910s, swarms of insects called boll weevils destroyed many acres of cotton. Farmers and sharecroppers like the Owens family suffered, with no crops to sell. At this time, factories were booming in the northern states. Hundreds of thousands of black Americans moved north to find work in these factories. Many moved to big cities in the midwestern states of Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan.

J. C.'s older sister Lillie was among those who headed north. After settling with cousins in Cleveland, Ohio, she wrote to her mother about the jobs there. As life got harder and harder in Alabama, Emma Owens convinced her husband that the family should try a new life. In 1922, Henry moved with his two oldest sons to join Lillie. A few months later, he sent for the rest of his family. Before Emma left, she sold nearly all their

possessions to help pay for the trip. The sale brought in only $24 (about $300 today). Things were very different in Cleveland for the Owens family. In Alabama everyone they knew was black. Now their neighbors included many white people. These people were immigrants looking for a better life just like the Owens family.

THE GREAT MIGRATION AT THE START OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, NINE OUT OF TEN AFRICAN AMERICANS LIVED IN SOUTHERN STATES. BY THE MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY, THE PROPORTION WAS DOWN TO LESS THAN ONE IN FIVE. THE GREAT MIGRATION LASTED FROM ABOUT 1910 UNTIL THE 1960S. MORE THAN SIX MILLION BLACK PEOPLE LEFT THE SOUTH FOR THE NORTH AND WEST. THEY WERE IN SEARCH OF BETTER JOBS AND BETTER LIVES. IN NORTHERN CITIES, THE NEW ARRIVALS LIVED IN NEIGHBORHOODS WITH OTHER BLACK PEOPLE. IN SOME OF THESE CITIES, MORE THAN HALF THE

RESIDENTS WERE AFRICAN AMERICAN. BLACK PEOPLE FILLED ASSEMBLY-LINE JOBS IN FACTORIES THAT MADE CARS, TRUCKS, AND STEEL. MANY WOMEN FOUND WORK AS MAIDS OR COOKS IN THE HOUSES OF WHITES WHO COULD AFFORD TO HIRE THEM. THE GREAT MIGRATION CREATED NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR MILLIONS OF FAMILIES.

In Cleveland, J. C. went to school for the first time. At Bolton Elementary he was put in the first grade, though he was nearly ten years old. He soon improved his reading enough to move up a grade. When he moved to Cleveland, he was still called J. C. by family and friends. However, his teacher at Bolton misheard his name. She thought it was Jesse. The new kid in class, young J. C. was too shy