The GREAT MIGRATION
The Robinson Family
Your name is James Robinson - husband to Clara Robinson and proud father to a son, David, and three little girls, Evie, Sarah, and Annie. You live in Georgia, where your family has lived as long as anyone can remember. You were born after the abolition of slavery, but you remember your parents' and grandparents' stories. You also heard stories of what happened next - that black Americans' lives got a lot better for a little while, but that Jim Crow laws all over the South took away the rights many people fought so hard to gain. Today, you work as a sharecropper - meaning that you work on someone else's land and only get to keep a portion of the crops you farm. You'll have a lot of decisions to make as your life - and the world around you - undergoes some big changes.
As a sharecropper, you only get to keep - and sell - a small portion of the crops you grow. It's practically impossible to earn enough money to buy your own land, or earn more money in any other way. Your children will probably be sharecroppers too, since a quality education isn't available to black children in Georgia. You feel stuck. A lot of people you know have been leaving Georgia behind, and moving up North. You're not sure what kinds of opportunities there are up there, but maybe it's better than this... On the other hand, everything you know is here. Your parents are getting old, they might need someone to take care of them. Your church is here, your friends are here... can you really leave that all behind?
Move north
Stay here
You decide to stay. How can you leave your entire life behind? But through the grapevine, you hear whispers of something worse. Your church has been recieving some threatening messages, probably related your pastor's support for equal rights for black Americans. The notes threaten to target members of the community. You again consider leaving. You would never let something happen to your family. But would a life in the North really be better? You have no way of knowing for sure...
Move north
Stay here
You decide that moving North is a bigger risk than staying in Georgia. At least you have a support network here that you can count on if things go wrong. One day, as you're working in the fields, you see a light in the distance. You think it's the setting sun, but no... it's too early, the sun is still in the sky. You run towards it, and see... your home, in flames. You know this was no accident. Thankfully, your family all got out in time. But you lost everything you had - you'll have to start all over. Your church community raises money for your family. It isn't enough to build a new house... but it's just enough for some train tickets to a new life.
Move north
You buy a newspaper to figure out which city to move to. There are so many options - it seems like every city in the North is desperate to hire workers. You read an article about Newark, New Jersey, where "steel workers are wanted badly." You've been a farmer your whole life... but you think you could learn to be a steel worker. You and your family board a train headed to Newark. When you arrive, you find a bustling city full of industry. Surely there are many opporunities here! But you'll need to find a place to live. You notice that most of the other black residents of Newark live in small, crowded apartments - some of which look like they're falling apart. Where do you try to live?
A mostly-white neighborhood
A mostly-black neighborhood
You decide to move to a mostly-black neighborhood, and soon find out why this is where all the black folks live - you wouldn't be able to live in the white neighborhoods anyway. Most people won't sell their homes to black residents. So instead, you have to move your family into a cramped apartment. But you're also surrounded by a warm, vibrant community - your neighborhood hosts parties, concerts, and religious celebrations. Already, it's starting to feel like home. You'll need a job to pay rent, though. You remember the ad for steel workers, so you try to get a job there. You're offered a job that does not pay well, and seems extremely dangerous. What do you do?
Keep looking
Accept the job
You try looking for a home in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood full of white residents. But the second you begin talking to someone to purchase a house, you find that it's "not for sale"... despite the "for sale" sign in the yard. Turns out, most people just won't sell their homes to black residents. So instead, you have to move your family into a cramped apartment. But you're also surrounded by a warm, vibrant community - your neighborhood hosts parties, concerts, and religious celebrations. Already, it's starting to feel like home. You'll need a job to pay rent, though. You remember the ad for steel workers, so you try to get a job there. You're offered a job that does not pay well, and seems extremely dangerous. What do you do?
Keep looking
Accept the job
You accept the job, and you realize you made a good choice. While there are many opportunities in Newark, there are even more people looking for opportunities. And since your experience is in farming, which you can't do in Newark, you're going to have to take what you can get. Your wife gets a job too, as a seamstress. But it's still difficult to make ends meet. Some factories in town are willing to hire children as young as 10... David is 13, and Evie is 11. They won't be paid much, but it would sure help you pay the bills. On the other hand, you moved North for new opportunities and a better life for your kids. An education could give them skills you never got the chance to learn. What do you do?
Send kids to school
Send kids to work
While there are many opportunities in Newark, there are even more people looking for opportunities. And since your experience is in farming, which you can't do in Newark, you're going to have to take what you can get. You find another job... one with even worse pay, and still dangerous conditions. Your wife gets a job too, as a seamstress. But it's still difficult to make ends meet. Some factories in town are willing to hire children as young as 10... David is 13, and Evie is 11. They won't be paid much, but it would sure help you pay the bills. On the other hand, you moved North for new opportunities and a better life for your kids. An education could give them skills you never got the chance to learn. What do you do?
Send kids to school
Send kids to work
You decide to send your children to school. You ask how to enroll them in the black school in the neighborhood, and are surprised to hear that black and white children attend the same schools. However, since your school is determined by where you live, the schools are sort of segregated - just not officially. Still, their education is much better than in Georgia, where schools for black children were ignored at best. You want to keep your kids in school as long as possible, so that they can have opportunities you never did. Meanwhile, your work is rough. You learn that white workers are getting paid more than you, even though you're doing the same work as them. And your boss is making ridiculous demands that put his workers in danger. You think about getting together with other workers to demand change...
Unite & demand change
Stay quiet & work
You decide to send your oldest children to work, and enroll your youngest in school. You're amazed - black and white children attend the same schools (although schools are unofficially segregated by where students live), and their education is much better than in Georgia, where schools for black children were ignored at best. You begin to rethink your decision. You want to keep your youngest kids in school as long as possible, so that they can have opportunities you never did. Meanwhile, your work is rough. You learn that white workers are getting paid more than you, even though you're doing the same work as them. And your boss is making ridiculous demands that put his workers in danger. You think about getting together with other workers to demand change...
Unite & demand change
Stay quiet & work
You start talking to your fellow workers about the injustices you're facing. You even talk to the white workers who get paid more than you - their pay still isn't great, and you point out that if you work together, you can BOTH get paid more. But there's no point - they already have a union, and black workers aren't allowed in. On the other hand, another black worker mentions an organization that helps black residents of Newark - the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). There's a meeting next Monday - it's after a long day of work, but you're thinking about it.
Go to the meeting
Go to bed
What's the point? The white workers already have a union, and they won't let you join. It doesn't matter that, if you worked together, maybe you could ALL get paid more... But since you never talked to anyone about these issues, it's several months before another black worker mentions an organization that helps black residents of Newark - the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). There's a meeting next Monday - it's after a long day of work, but you're thinking about it.
Go to the meeting
Go to bed
It's not worth it - what can they do? It isn't until months later when you're going shopping with Clara that she points something out - a lot of businesses are owned by black entrepreneurs, because black customers will shop there. Many customers come to her dressmakers shop specifically asking for her - what if she started her own shop? But you wouldn't even know where to start, because you don't know anyone who owns a business. You would have to save up for years, and it would be a big risk... but she believes in herself.
Save up
Play it safe
You decide it's worth going to the meeting. You mention it to your wife Clara, and she decides to join. There are many other people in a similar situation - even experienced workers are stuck in low-paying jobs, because their employers refuse to promote them. But there are also lots of people there who don't depend on a boss for a raise - because they are their own boss. Many businesses are owned by black entrepreneurs, because black customers will shop there. They offer advice at meetings for other black residents who want to start a business. Clara comes home with an idea. Many customers come to her dressmakers shop specifically asking for her - what if she started her own shop? You would have to save up for years, and it would be a big risk... but she believes in herself.
Save up
Play it safe
Years go by, and you save up every penny for Clara's dress shop. You're terrified that they'll all go to waste - but you trust your wife. You end up joining the NAACP - many members run businesses, and they offer you support. Finally, you're able to start renting space for a shop. Slowly at first, customers begin to trickle in. Before long, though, Clara is making dresses for the most fashionable ladies in town - everything from church clothes to dancers' costumes. After a few years, you're no millionaire - but you're living a life you never thought was possible. You quit the factory and become the business manager for Clara's shop. You're a respected member of your community. Best of all, by the time your youngest daughters graduate, you're able to send them both to Douglass college, the womens' college at Rutgers University. Not everyone is as fortunate, and many people in your community still face challenges. But you're proud of what you've accomplished!
Years go by, and you save up every penny for Clara's dress shop. You're terrified that they'll all go to waste - but you trust your wife. Other members of the NAACP help you out. Finally, you're able to start renting space for a shop. Slowly at first, customers begin to trickle in. Before long, though, Clara is making dresses for the most fashionable ladies in town - everything from church clothes to dancers' costumes. After a few years, you're no millionaire - but you're living a life you never thought was possible. You quit the factory and become the business manager for Clara's shop. You're a respected member of your community. Best of all, by the time your youngest daughters graduate, you're able to send them both to Douglass college, the womens' college at Rutgers University. Not everyone is as fortunate, and many people in your community still face challenges. But you're proud of what you've accomplished!
Years go by, and you're in the same situation you were in before. Life is better than in Georgia - your kids are still in school, you earn a little bit more money, and you face fewer threats than you did down South. But you still face challenges. Your kids' school isn't equal to the schools in white neighborhoods, you're still barely able to make ends meet... and the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization, is gaining power in the North. On the other hand, many black migrants to the North are making progress. They're writing literature, making music, opening businesses, and expanding organizations to fight for black Americans' rights. You're hopeful that your childrens' generation will be better off than yours - and you hope you get to see them thrive!
Start again?
Great Migration - Choose Your Own Adventure
Alanna Redwood
Created on September 30, 2025
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Transcript
The GREAT MIGRATION
The Robinson Family
Your name is James Robinson - husband to Clara Robinson and proud father to a son, David, and three little girls, Evie, Sarah, and Annie. You live in Georgia, where your family has lived as long as anyone can remember. You were born after the abolition of slavery, but you remember your parents' and grandparents' stories. You also heard stories of what happened next - that black Americans' lives got a lot better for a little while, but that Jim Crow laws all over the South took away the rights many people fought so hard to gain. Today, you work as a sharecropper - meaning that you work on someone else's land and only get to keep a portion of the crops you farm. You'll have a lot of decisions to make as your life - and the world around you - undergoes some big changes.
As a sharecropper, you only get to keep - and sell - a small portion of the crops you grow. It's practically impossible to earn enough money to buy your own land, or earn more money in any other way. Your children will probably be sharecroppers too, since a quality education isn't available to black children in Georgia. You feel stuck. A lot of people you know have been leaving Georgia behind, and moving up North. You're not sure what kinds of opportunities there are up there, but maybe it's better than this... On the other hand, everything you know is here. Your parents are getting old, they might need someone to take care of them. Your church is here, your friends are here... can you really leave that all behind?
Move north
Stay here
You decide to stay. How can you leave your entire life behind? But through the grapevine, you hear whispers of something worse. Your church has been recieving some threatening messages, probably related your pastor's support for equal rights for black Americans. The notes threaten to target members of the community. You again consider leaving. You would never let something happen to your family. But would a life in the North really be better? You have no way of knowing for sure...
Move north
Stay here
You decide that moving North is a bigger risk than staying in Georgia. At least you have a support network here that you can count on if things go wrong. One day, as you're working in the fields, you see a light in the distance. You think it's the setting sun, but no... it's too early, the sun is still in the sky. You run towards it, and see... your home, in flames. You know this was no accident. Thankfully, your family all got out in time. But you lost everything you had - you'll have to start all over. Your church community raises money for your family. It isn't enough to build a new house... but it's just enough for some train tickets to a new life.
Move north
You buy a newspaper to figure out which city to move to. There are so many options - it seems like every city in the North is desperate to hire workers. You read an article about Newark, New Jersey, where "steel workers are wanted badly." You've been a farmer your whole life... but you think you could learn to be a steel worker. You and your family board a train headed to Newark. When you arrive, you find a bustling city full of industry. Surely there are many opporunities here! But you'll need to find a place to live. You notice that most of the other black residents of Newark live in small, crowded apartments - some of which look like they're falling apart. Where do you try to live?
A mostly-white neighborhood
A mostly-black neighborhood
You decide to move to a mostly-black neighborhood, and soon find out why this is where all the black folks live - you wouldn't be able to live in the white neighborhoods anyway. Most people won't sell their homes to black residents. So instead, you have to move your family into a cramped apartment. But you're also surrounded by a warm, vibrant community - your neighborhood hosts parties, concerts, and religious celebrations. Already, it's starting to feel like home. You'll need a job to pay rent, though. You remember the ad for steel workers, so you try to get a job there. You're offered a job that does not pay well, and seems extremely dangerous. What do you do?
Keep looking
Accept the job
You try looking for a home in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood full of white residents. But the second you begin talking to someone to purchase a house, you find that it's "not for sale"... despite the "for sale" sign in the yard. Turns out, most people just won't sell their homes to black residents. So instead, you have to move your family into a cramped apartment. But you're also surrounded by a warm, vibrant community - your neighborhood hosts parties, concerts, and religious celebrations. Already, it's starting to feel like home. You'll need a job to pay rent, though. You remember the ad for steel workers, so you try to get a job there. You're offered a job that does not pay well, and seems extremely dangerous. What do you do?
Keep looking
Accept the job
You accept the job, and you realize you made a good choice. While there are many opportunities in Newark, there are even more people looking for opportunities. And since your experience is in farming, which you can't do in Newark, you're going to have to take what you can get. Your wife gets a job too, as a seamstress. But it's still difficult to make ends meet. Some factories in town are willing to hire children as young as 10... David is 13, and Evie is 11. They won't be paid much, but it would sure help you pay the bills. On the other hand, you moved North for new opportunities and a better life for your kids. An education could give them skills you never got the chance to learn. What do you do?
Send kids to school
Send kids to work
While there are many opportunities in Newark, there are even more people looking for opportunities. And since your experience is in farming, which you can't do in Newark, you're going to have to take what you can get. You find another job... one with even worse pay, and still dangerous conditions. Your wife gets a job too, as a seamstress. But it's still difficult to make ends meet. Some factories in town are willing to hire children as young as 10... David is 13, and Evie is 11. They won't be paid much, but it would sure help you pay the bills. On the other hand, you moved North for new opportunities and a better life for your kids. An education could give them skills you never got the chance to learn. What do you do?
Send kids to school
Send kids to work
You decide to send your children to school. You ask how to enroll them in the black school in the neighborhood, and are surprised to hear that black and white children attend the same schools. However, since your school is determined by where you live, the schools are sort of segregated - just not officially. Still, their education is much better than in Georgia, where schools for black children were ignored at best. You want to keep your kids in school as long as possible, so that they can have opportunities you never did. Meanwhile, your work is rough. You learn that white workers are getting paid more than you, even though you're doing the same work as them. And your boss is making ridiculous demands that put his workers in danger. You think about getting together with other workers to demand change...
Unite & demand change
Stay quiet & work
You decide to send your oldest children to work, and enroll your youngest in school. You're amazed - black and white children attend the same schools (although schools are unofficially segregated by where students live), and their education is much better than in Georgia, where schools for black children were ignored at best. You begin to rethink your decision. You want to keep your youngest kids in school as long as possible, so that they can have opportunities you never did. Meanwhile, your work is rough. You learn that white workers are getting paid more than you, even though you're doing the same work as them. And your boss is making ridiculous demands that put his workers in danger. You think about getting together with other workers to demand change...
Unite & demand change
Stay quiet & work
You start talking to your fellow workers about the injustices you're facing. You even talk to the white workers who get paid more than you - their pay still isn't great, and you point out that if you work together, you can BOTH get paid more. But there's no point - they already have a union, and black workers aren't allowed in. On the other hand, another black worker mentions an organization that helps black residents of Newark - the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). There's a meeting next Monday - it's after a long day of work, but you're thinking about it.
Go to the meeting
Go to bed
What's the point? The white workers already have a union, and they won't let you join. It doesn't matter that, if you worked together, maybe you could ALL get paid more... But since you never talked to anyone about these issues, it's several months before another black worker mentions an organization that helps black residents of Newark - the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). There's a meeting next Monday - it's after a long day of work, but you're thinking about it.
Go to the meeting
Go to bed
It's not worth it - what can they do? It isn't until months later when you're going shopping with Clara that she points something out - a lot of businesses are owned by black entrepreneurs, because black customers will shop there. Many customers come to her dressmakers shop specifically asking for her - what if she started her own shop? But you wouldn't even know where to start, because you don't know anyone who owns a business. You would have to save up for years, and it would be a big risk... but she believes in herself.
Save up
Play it safe
You decide it's worth going to the meeting. You mention it to your wife Clara, and she decides to join. There are many other people in a similar situation - even experienced workers are stuck in low-paying jobs, because their employers refuse to promote them. But there are also lots of people there who don't depend on a boss for a raise - because they are their own boss. Many businesses are owned by black entrepreneurs, because black customers will shop there. They offer advice at meetings for other black residents who want to start a business. Clara comes home with an idea. Many customers come to her dressmakers shop specifically asking for her - what if she started her own shop? You would have to save up for years, and it would be a big risk... but she believes in herself.
Save up
Play it safe
Years go by, and you save up every penny for Clara's dress shop. You're terrified that they'll all go to waste - but you trust your wife. You end up joining the NAACP - many members run businesses, and they offer you support. Finally, you're able to start renting space for a shop. Slowly at first, customers begin to trickle in. Before long, though, Clara is making dresses for the most fashionable ladies in town - everything from church clothes to dancers' costumes. After a few years, you're no millionaire - but you're living a life you never thought was possible. You quit the factory and become the business manager for Clara's shop. You're a respected member of your community. Best of all, by the time your youngest daughters graduate, you're able to send them both to Douglass college, the womens' college at Rutgers University. Not everyone is as fortunate, and many people in your community still face challenges. But you're proud of what you've accomplished!
Years go by, and you save up every penny for Clara's dress shop. You're terrified that they'll all go to waste - but you trust your wife. Other members of the NAACP help you out. Finally, you're able to start renting space for a shop. Slowly at first, customers begin to trickle in. Before long, though, Clara is making dresses for the most fashionable ladies in town - everything from church clothes to dancers' costumes. After a few years, you're no millionaire - but you're living a life you never thought was possible. You quit the factory and become the business manager for Clara's shop. You're a respected member of your community. Best of all, by the time your youngest daughters graduate, you're able to send them both to Douglass college, the womens' college at Rutgers University. Not everyone is as fortunate, and many people in your community still face challenges. But you're proud of what you've accomplished!
Years go by, and you're in the same situation you were in before. Life is better than in Georgia - your kids are still in school, you earn a little bit more money, and you face fewer threats than you did down South. But you still face challenges. Your kids' school isn't equal to the schools in white neighborhoods, you're still barely able to make ends meet... and the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization, is gaining power in the North. On the other hand, many black migrants to the North are making progress. They're writing literature, making music, opening businesses, and expanding organizations to fight for black Americans' rights. You're hopeful that your childrens' generation will be better off than yours - and you hope you get to see them thrive!
Start again?