Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and the Black American Dream

A powerful illustrated history of the Great Migration and its sweeping impact on Black and American culture, from Reconstruction to the rise of hip hop.

The Great Migration--when six million Black Americans left the American South for northern and western cities--sparked stunning demographic and cultural changes in twentieth-century America. Through gripping and accessible historical narrative, family stories, and illustrations, author and activist Blair Imani examines the largely overlooked impact of the Great Migration and how it affected-and continues to affect-Black identity and America as a whole.

Making Our Way Home examines issues like voting rights, domestic terrorism, discrimination, and segregation alongside the flourishing of arts and culture, activism, and civil rights. You'll learn how these influences shaped America's workforce and wealth distribution through the stories of notable people in addition to family oral histories. Prominent figures such as James Baldwin, Fannie Lou Hamer, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X), Ella Baker, and others are spotlighted alongside the larger historical and cultural narratives of the Great Migration.

Blair Imani was born in Los Angeles, California. She attended Louisiana State University and graduated in 2015 with a degree in history. Blair is a writer, mental health advocate, and historian living at the intersections of Black, queer, and Muslim identity. In addition to being a public speaker, Blair is the author of Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History.