The Other Great Migration: The Movement of Rural African Americans to Houston, 1900-1941

Title Page

the other great migration The Movement of Rural African Americans to Houston, 1900–1941 bernadette pruitt Texas A&M University Press college station ~ Copyright © 2013 by Bernadette Pruitt All rights reserved First edition Manufactured in the United States of America The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48–1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pruitt, Bernadette, 1965– The other great migration : the movement of rural African Americans to Houston, 1900–1941 / Bernadette Pruitt. — 1st ed. p. cm. — (Sam Rayburn series on rural life ; no. 21) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60344-948-9 (cloth: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-62349-003-4 (e-book) 1. African-Americans—Texas—Houston—Migrations—History—20th century. 2. Rural-urban migration—Texas—Houston—History—20th century. 3. Migration, Internal—Texas—Houston—History—20th century. 4. African Americans—Texas— Houston—Social conditions—20th century. 5. Houston (Tex.)—Social conditions— 20th century. 6. Community development—Texas—Houston—History—20th century. 7. Houston (Tex.)—Race relations—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series: Sam Rayburn series on rural life ; no. 21. F394.H89N48 2013 305.896'07307641411—dc23 2013017813 Cover/Title page The United States Army commissioned Sgt. Samuel Countee to design a large painting for a wall in the newly built Black Officers Club at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in 1942. Completed in 1943 or 1945, the “Garden of Eden” celebrated the beauty of Black love, innocence, and hope. The setting: Fifth Ward, Houston, from his mother’s front porch. Countee, a native of Marshall and graduate of Houston’s Booker T. Washington High School in the 1920s, understood the relevance of the portrait as the Black press’s effective “Double V,” or “Democracy: Victory at Home, Victory Abroad,” campaign for the successful defeat of the racist Axis Forces abroad and of White supremacy in the United States. (Courtesy Office of Media Relations, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, United States Army) To my grandparents— Mack Lively and Bertha Juanita Lewis Lively Pruitt, and Elizabeth and Clinton Pruitt— thank you for everything. Your Great Migrations to Detroit, Michigan, in the last century have molded me into the woman I am today in this century. I love you! ~ ...