Carol Stack’s Call to Home

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Progress and individualism are very much celebrated in American culture. Many people migrate to urban cities in the search of economic prosperity and to achieve the elusive “American Dream.” City life can often come as a shock to individuals not accustomed to a fast-paced lifestyle; conversely it can change a person. Such change can transform a person to lose the values and beliefs they were raised with which consequently attribute to losing the bonds that they once held with their families. This is not the case with the families portrayed in Carol Stack’s ethnography Call to Home. The book depicts Southern African-American families living in rural, North and South Carolina’s towns – which migrate to northern urban cities for economic opportunities – known as the Great Migration, and ultimately decide to return home. This essay explores the motives that caused Reverse Migration which include kin ties, structural and environmental violence endured, the role of the children, and the novel philosophies the diaspora brings with them upon returning home. The Great Migration to northern states subtly began in the 1920’s, during the Jim Crow era (J. Stevenson, personal communication, November 12, 2013). An economic boom in the 1940’s during World War II generated the second Great Migration as families in the South were facing structural and environmental violence (J. Stevenson, personal communication, November 18, 2013). Poor infrastructure, lack of opportunities and jobs and incessant poverty inspired migration towards the northern and northwestern part of the country (J. Stevenson, personal communication, November 12, 2013), however Stack’s ethnography primarily focuses on families and individuals that have migrated to northern stat... ... middle of paper ... ...ontinued the cycle of structural and environmental violence. Years after slavery ended African American communities continue to be subjugated by White folk into structures that are not allowing them to flourish. African American families should be allowed to call the South home while having access to all the resources they would otherwise have access to in urban communities, as it is their basic civil and human rights to do so. However, with the injustices they face it is wonderful that the familial bonds keeps the communities stabilized and know that they can count on each other whether they are blood or fictive kin. Works Cited Stack, C. (1996). Call to home: African Americans reclaim the rural south. New York, NY: BasicBooks. Toepke, A. & Serrano, A. (Producer/Directors). (1998). The language you cry in [DVD]. Sierra Leone/Spain: California Newsreel.

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