CCAAL, Inc. and Garrison School Cultural Center In the News

On Tuesday, May 7th at 10:45a.m. at the Garrison School Cultural Center, located at 502 N. Water St.-Liberty, Missouri 64068, the Center in partnership with the Greater Kansas City Black History Study Group, will showcase approximately 10 booklets on “The Impact of the Great Migration on American Society”.  The booklets were developed by 80-90 students working in teams that researched specific topics pertaining to Black Migration, and who also interviewed individuals whose families participated in The Great Migration.

The Great Migration is the name given to some six million African Americans who migrated from the south to the north seeking better jobs and freedom from discrimination and racist ideologies used to justify the oppression and violence commonplace in the south at the time.  

Participants in this project include 70 Liberty High school students, and 25 William Jewell College students.   Senior Citizens from the Palestine Community Center of Kansas City, Missouri, who also participated and supported the oral interview section for this project, will attend the program.

Students will discuss the results of their completed work which will be displayed on approximately ten tables placed around the room, each addressing an area of impact of The Great Migration.  Attendees, in small groups, assembled around the respective tables, will hear the students as they provide a brief(2-minute) summary of their research.  Following the small group presentations, attendees will be able to walk around and view other tables and ask students questions about their topic of research. The presentations will close with time allocated for the high school students and college students to briefly compare their work.

The movement of African Americans out of the south resulted in more diverse and stratified urban populations, giving rise to black industrial workers and black entrepreneurs.  The period also saw the emergence of urban churches, new religions, new music forms (ragtime, blues, and jazz) and the blossoming of visual and literary arts in places like New York City, Washington D.C., and Chicago.

It is significant to have young scholars share in the exploration of this subject area which emanates from the 2019 Black History Theme, Black Migrations, set by The Association for the Study of African American Life and History(ASALH), whose network of academic scholars and branches seek to research, preserve and teach the history of African Americans not always shared in detail in academic curricula.  The public is invited to attend and support the research and work of these students.