On the Move: Stories of African American Migration and Mobility: Home

This guide includes resources included as part of he exhibition at Wilson Special Collections Library, "On the Move: Stories of African American Migration," as well as additional resources for further research. 

African American experiences of migration and mobility over the last 400 years have been closely tied to access to changing modes of transportation. This exhibit features artifacts that tell stories of a continent of people in motion, including ship manifests describing human cargo, narratives of fugitives who sought freedom from slavery on foot, and the folkways of Black pilgrims seeking new job opportunities on western and northern bound trains - While the circumstances and lengths of their journeys vary, their drive to challenge injustice is constant. Stories included in the exhibit explore the African American fight for fair seating on interstate buses, African American pilots overcoming prejudice in the military, and African American drivers searching for hospitality on unfamiliar roads.

Organized into six themes, this guide leads researchers to the foundational texts and archival collections that contextualize these stories  

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade - Resources on the movement of enslaved people
• The Fugitive Slave Act - Resources on escape from enslavement
• The Great Migration - Resources on train travel and community migration
• The Journey of Reconciliation - Resources on bus travel
• The Double V Campaign - Resources on African-American airmen and military personnel
• The Negro Motorist Green Book - Resources on traveling by automobile

“On the Move: Stories of African American Migration and Mobility," was on view from September 14, 2019 through February 9, 2020 in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room in Wilson Special Collections Library. "On the Move" was curated by Chaitra Powell, African American collections and outreach archivist at Carolina’s University Libraries.