Who Set You Flowin'? The African-American Migration Narrative (Race and American Culture)

245 Pages·1995·16.18 MB·English

by  Farah Jasmine Griffin

"Who Set You Flowin?"
RACE AND AMERICAN CULTURE
General Editors:
Arnold Rampersad and Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Love and Theft
Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class
Eric Lott
The Dialect of Modernism:
Race, Language, and Twentieth-Century Literature
Michael North
Bordering on the Body
The Racial Matrix of Modern Fiction and Culture
Laura Doyle
"Who Set You Flowin'?"
The African-American Migration Narrative
Farah Jasmine Griffin
Doers of the Word
African-American Women Reformers in the North (1830-1880)
Carla L. Peterson
"WHO
SET
YOU
FLOWIN?»>
The African-American
Migration Narrative
FARAH JASMINE GRIFFIN
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford \c\v York
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Copyright © 1995 by Farah Jasmine Griffin
First published in 1995 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1996.
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.
All rights reserved, No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
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without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Griffin, Farah Jasmine.
"Who set you flowin'?":
the African-American migration narrative /
Farah Jasmine Griffin.
p. cm.—(Race and American culture)
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral—Yale University).
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-508896-4—ISBN 0-19-508897-2 (pbk.)
1. American fiction—Afro-American authors—History and criticism.
2. Rural-urban migration in literature.
3. Migration, Internal, in literature,
4. City and town life in literature.
5. Afro-Americans in literature.
6. Narration (Rhetoric)
I. Title, II. Series.
PS374.N4G75 1995 813.009'895073—dc20 94-22860
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For
My Grandmother,
Willie Lee Carson
(1904-1981),
who migrated from Eastman, Georgia,
to Philadelphia in February 1923;
and
Her three Philadelphia-born Daughters,
Eunice Cogdell
(1924-1991)
Eartha Mordecai
Wilhelmena Griffin
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Acknowledgments
During the course of writing this book I have had the privilege of gathering
advice from some of the wisest and most generous people I know. By introducing
me to new paradigms Evelyn Higginbotham upset my intellectual equilibrium on
more than one occasion. In so doing she greatly helped my personal growth as
well as the growth of this project. I am grateful for the attention she has given to
my work. James A. Miller was always there to answer a question, lend a book,
debate a point, read a draft, and make me laugh. Likewise, Jerry Watts challenged
my thoughts and read an early draft of this project. Cornel West's careful reading
of the manuscript provided me with wisdom, insight, and critical affirmation.
This book had its beginning as my dissertation for the American Studies
Program at Yale University. Many of my teachers supported the project in its
initial stages. I am especially grateful to my dissertation committee. Professor
Robert Stepto was an ideal mentor and advisor. He always provided me with
insight and enthusiasm, and his occasional "you can do more with this" impelled
me to try. Michael Denning's thoughtful comments and his ability to anticipate
the shape of the project were invaluable even before I put pen to paper. Working
with him throughout graduate school was clearly an intellectual high point. Hazel
Carby's close attention to my work, her vast store of knowledge, and her pub-
lished writings made her an important member of the dissertation committee.
Professors Nancy Cott and Jean-Christophc Agnew helped to clarify my thinking
about issues of history and power. Their classes and written comments were
especially helpful. I appreciate Alan Trachtenberg's careful reading and valuable
suggestions for revision.
Werner Sollors, Carol Bernstein, Kimberly Benston, Susan Pennybacker,
Ron Thomas, Errol Louis, Paul Rogers, The Wcsleyan-Trinity-Yale Feminist
Writer's Group (Ann du Cille, Indira Karamachetti, Barbara Sicherman, Joan
Hedrick, Laura Wexler, and Gertrude Hughes), and my intellectual sisters, Lisa
Sullivan and Saidiya Hartman, all contributed enormously to my writing and
thinking about cities, literature and African-American life and culture. Herman
Beavers, Ines Salazar, and Houston Baker, my colleagues at the University of
Pennsylvania, were very supportive.
With grace and patience Crystal Lucky and Cheryl Dorsey did the very
tedious but invaluable job of proofreading and checking my notes and bibliogra-