Synopses & Reviews
Many people think of the first three decades of the 20th century as the formative years of Jim Crow, or legal segregation, a time when African Americans shared in the aspirations and expectations of their fellow citizens, but who did so as a people with a unique set of barriers to overcome. In the South, segregation had become a way of life. In the North, opportunities for work were hard to come by in the face of a less overt racism. Yet, even in the face of such discrimination, a new generation of African Americans left an indelible mark on the nation and its affairs. Luminaries such as Booker T. Washington, Mary Church Terrell, and Marcus Garvey inspired and led thousands of black men and women as they obliterated, removed, tiptoed around, climbed over, and even passed through these barriers. This is the story of sharecropper Minnie Savage, NAACP founder W. E. B. Du Bois, and countless others who lived in this time of hope and age of despair.
It was also a time of movement. By the second decade of the 20th century, cotton cultivation still employed more black Southerners than any other single activity. Encouraged by recruiting efforts and the desire to leave the stifling racial climate in Southern communities, approximately 1.5 million African Americans left the rural South during what came to be known as the Great Migration. Scores settled in New York's Harlem and Chicago's South Side. But thousands also moved to Detroit, Gary, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, as well as Philadelphia, Camden, Newark, and Boston.
James Grossman's A Chance to Make Good is peopled by the ordinary and the famous, the migrants and those who stayed behind. Documenting the efforts of individuals and communities to claim a place for themselves in America, it narrates the powerful story of black aspirations, frustration, and determination in the years from 1900 to 1929.
Review
"Powerful stories of black aspiration, frustration, and determination between the years 1900 and 1929.... This volume is highly recommended for both young adult and adult students as well as librarians, teachers, and parents. It is both a vital research tool and a key to unlock African-American history."--MultiCultural Review
"With an honest depiction of the striving and the disappointment, Grossman shows that these crucial years were 'both a time of hope and an age of despair.'"--Booklist
"Covers the black experience from 1900-1929, including African-American migration to the cities, the rise of black businesses and political coalitions, the Harlem Renaissance, and black contributions to music and culture."--Curriculum Review
Synopsis
-- Real-life stories and primary sources show the diversity of the African-American experience
-- Fascinating illustrations, many never before published
-- Reconsiders key events of American history from an Afrocentric perspective
-- Featured African Americans include Crispus Attucks, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., Spike Lee, Carol Moseley-Braun, and many, many more
-- Each volume is written by a leading American historian
-- Each book includes a full chronology, suggestions for further reading, and an index
-- The 11th volume contains a series index and brief biographies of notable African-American men and women