The Great Migration

Hello there. My name is Ida Mae Brandon Gladney. A long, long time ago, when I was a young woman in the 1930s, I lived with my husband George on a farm in Mississippi. The sun was always hot, and the work picking cotton was very hard. We worked all day long, but it felt like we could never get ahead. We dreamed of a different kind of life. We started to hear stories about big cities in the North, like Chicago. People said it was a place where your hard work could help you build a better future for your family. We wanted our children to be able to go to wonderful schools and have chances that we never did. Most of all, we wanted to live in a place where we would be treated fairly. The idea of moving was a little scary, but the feeling of hope for something better was much bigger than our fear.

So, on a day in 1937, we made our brave decision. We packed a small bag with our clothes and some fried chicken and biscuits for the journey, and we said goodbye to the only home I had ever known. We climbed aboard a big, noisy train. It hissed with steam and then started to move with a loud 'chugga-chugga-choo-choo!'. The wooden seats were hard, but I didn't mind one bit. I pressed my face against the cool glass of the window, watching the world change before my eyes. At first, all I saw were the familiar flat cotton fields stretching out like a quilt. But after a while, the fields turned into small towns with little houses, and then those towns grew into bigger cities with more buildings than I could count. When we got hungry, we ate the food we’d packed, and it tasted like hope and adventure. I looked around the train car and saw other families just like ours. Their eyes were wide, and they spoke in quiet, excited whispers. We were all strangers, but we shared the same big dream. We were all traveling on that rumbling train toward a new life, a new beginning in a place called Chicago.

When the train finally screeched to a stop, we stepped out into a whole new world. 'Hello, Chicago!' I whispered. The buildings were so tall they looked like they could touch the clouds. Cars and buses honked on the busy streets, and there were people everywhere, all moving so fast. It was so different from our quiet farm. At first, it felt a little overwhelming, but it was also very exciting. We found a small apartment to call our own, and my husband found a good job. We weren't the only ones who made this journey. Millions of other Black families like mine also moved from the South to cities in the North during this time. It was such a big event that it was called the Great Migration. We all brought our traditions, our delicious food, and our music with us. Together, we helped build new, wonderful communities. My family's journey on that train changed our lives forever and became a small part of a big change for America.