Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division

Even Southerners who had lived in cities faced the difficult task of trying to recreate familiar lifestyles in unfamiliar Northern surroundings. They depended on the experiences of those who had traveled ahead of them. In new cities and towns, they sought advice from free blacks who were natives of the area or who had benefited from a longer stay. They found housing and jobs through a chain of contacts and references.