The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross

Making a Way Out of No Way (1897-1940)

During the Jim Crow era, African Americans struggled to build their own worlds within the confines of segregation. At the turn of the 20th century, a steady stream of African Americans migrated away from the South, fleeing racial violence and searching for better opportunities in the North and the West. At the same time, there was an ascendance of arts and culture, such as The Harlem Renaissance.