Some moved to be with family, others were encouraged by new opportunities free of Jim Crow laws. In these smaller cities, they lived quietly, worked hard and raised children. Some rose to management positions at work, stayed active in church, earned college degrees and pressed the importance of education to their children and grandchildren.
The stories here, reported and written by Stonehill College students, provide glimpses into the experiences of those in the Greater Brockton area who left the South during what is considered the end of the Great Migration.
Students interviewed members of the Messiah Baptist Church, one of the oldest and most active African-American churches in Brockton, Massachusetts in the Spring of 2015, to document their journeys.
These are stories of lives filled with the riches of family, religion and a love for education. These are also stories of people overcoming racism and refusing to let that battle define them.
- Maureen Boyle, journalism program director
Image courtesy of the Stanley A. Bauman Photograph
Collection at Stonehill College