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Return Migration to the South
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Lesson Plans For Return Migration to the South
Mobility and Migration Lesson Plan: Where Do I Come From?
Grade levels: Middle school, grades 6-8
Concentration area: Geography, History : U.S.
In the narrative Return South Migration students are introduced to different types of migration including "return" and "non-return" migration and the impact of family and kinship on migration. Mobility and Migration is a lesson plan that may be used in history class as an introduction to or in conjunction with the narrative. It will reinforce the narrative for non-verbal learners by having them conduct a poll about places of birth, collect the data, and graph the results. Students will compare data collected from other students and adults to determine if there are significant generational differences in their community's migration patterns.
Heaven, Hell, and Baltimore Lesson Plan
Grade levels: High school, grades 9-12
Concentration area: History
In the narrative Return South Migration, Dwayne Walls, in Chickenbone Special, recounts an old quote about the African-American residents of a rural community in North Carolina, "These people know only three places to go: Heaven, Hell, and Baltimore." What is special about this quote? Students will analyze the quote within the context of the migration back to the South.
Home Ties Lesson Plan
Grade levels: Middle and high school, grades 6-12
Concentration area: History : U.S. Government
The narrative Return South Migration talks about many reasons why African Americans have returned to the South. Students will interview family members and find out what their ties are with their community. They then will use this information to compare other cultures and times with what they have learned about the African-American culture from the narrative. Finally, students will create a graph showing the class findings and then compare the class results with the information they have found within the narrative.
Returning to the South Lesson Plan
Grade levels: High school, grades 9-12
Concentration area: History
Since the 1970s, social scientists and demographers have chronicled a turn-around in the migration patterns of African Americans. The turn-around is indicated by a large number of African-American northerners relocating to southern states. Return South Migration explores the reversal of historic migration patterns along with the reasons and consequences for the migration. In this lesson, students will explore the push/pull factors leading to the reverse migration as well as the impact the return to the South has had on the southern states.
Return South Migration Lesson Plan
Grade levels: Middle and high school, grades 9-12
Concentration area: History : U.S. Government
This lesson is designed for students to use with the narrative Return South Migration. Students also will use the site's maps and image resources in studying this migration. Appropriate for middle school and high school students, the lesson's goal is to facilitate students' understanding of the reasons so many immigrants returned to the South following the Civil Rights Movement.
The New Promised Land Lesson Plan
Grade levels: Middle and high school, grades 8-12
Concentration area: History
In the narrative Return South Migration, students will read the line, "They saw the city [Atlanta] as a new 'promised land,' with unlimited opportunity, a great place to raise their children." This lesson will have students consider what this says about the changes in the South. Through brainstorming, students will compare southern cities such as Atlanta to characteristics that make for an ideal community, and then compare how closely they resemble each other.
Mapping Twentieth Century African-American Migration
Grade levels: High School, grades 9–12
Concentration area: Geography
The website includes many maps among its resource materials. Maps bring the migration of African-Americans of the twentieth century to life, visually organizing statistical information for students. The lesson, Mapping Twentieth Century African-American Migration, is designed to help students develop their analytical skills when examining maps by comparing, contrasting, and sequencing information using : Principal States of Origin of the Migrants 1910–1930; Principal States of Origin of the Migrants 1940–1950; African-Americans Going South 1995–2000; The Great Migration; The Second Great Migration; Interstate Migrations 1955–1995; The Second Great Migration Gaines and Losses 1940–1970; and Reverse Migration 1975–2000. Students will use the activities in this lesson to compare and contrast states of origin and destination states at the beginning and end of the Great Migration, the Second Great Migration, and the Reverse Migration (in conjunction with their reading of the narratives The Great Migration, the Second Great Migration, Return South Migration.)Students will assess how geographical features such as the Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi River impacted settlement and evaluate whether modernized transportation (railroads, the interstate system) lessened the role of geography in migration.
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