The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America

The book comprises 2 basic strengths: the approach to the material and the resulting structure in which the story is told, and the sheer interest of the events themselves and the people who lived them.

The author approaches the story he wishes to tell in two ways: He relates the story of the people themselves, giving these sections of the book an oral history like content, but intermixes the chapters with those based on an analytic, scholarly approach, where the individual strories previously related are woven into the bigger historical picture. The approach works wonderfully, giving the book a structure both readable as a straightforward story of human beings relating their own very personal roles in historical events but also allowing the reader to put these events in a greater historical context, to understand for instance the sad downward slope experienced in the Black working class communities as the years passed. The early immigrants made their way to Black sections of Chicago which, while segregated and relatively poor compared to the White sections, also managed to provide at least the basis of a thriving community, in which work was available and there was a hope of moving up in the world. The comparison of these communities in the 1940's to the boarded up, drug infested no-man's land some of them were to become later is startling.

Some of the resulting questions raised are fascinating, especially in the current environment with the all-out effort to replace welfare with workfare. At it's most extreme is the question raised by Federal Welfare authorities as to whether it is perhaps better to just support people in the Mississippi Delta with welfare, given that the outlay is relatively minor, as opposed to encouraging people to move North. They might improve their lot with better jobs not available in the Delta but with the risk that they will perhaps end up on welfare forcing the authorities to pay out much more in benefits than would be necessary to pay in the Delta with it's significantly lower standard of living.

In the final analysis however, it is the stories of the immigrants which really take center stage and make reading this book such a satisfying experience. In a world of jet planes and instant electronic communications it is hard to imagine to almost biblical migration which took place all by virtue of a scheduled train line, people being transported to a profoundly different world by a day or so of travel, a world which at least initially offered a degree of prosperity and an improvement in ,living standards way beyond that of the Delta they left behind. The fragility of that life in the "promised land" however would become sadly apparent in the mixed experiences the future was to hold for the immigrants and their families and in the sad decline of their communities.

Driven by the disappearance of the Industries and Stockyards whose jobs fueled the great migration in the first place this movement eventually ground to a halt. Victims of both economic and racial segregation, the once dynamic Black working class communities of Chicago became more and more isolated and desolate as jobs became ever scarcer and drugs and welfare took a firmer hold. Those residents who had prospered and could afford to do so left for the suburbs open to them, while those who for whatever reason, whether their own failings or just an inability to keep up with a changing world were left to reside in the inner city in such stark monuments to failed policies as the Robert Taylor homes.

"The Promised Land" captures an episode in American history not likely to be repeated, and does so in a manner which combines the best of both analytic and anecdotal writing styles, driven by the heartfelt and exciting rembrances of the particpants themselves, those who comprised the great migration to the promised land.


Incisive, humane summary of a vexing issue of American polic   September 9, 1999
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is a brilliant book. Lemann tackles a very daunting subject and presents it in a style that's cogent, humane and easy to understand. Black inner city povery is a decidedly "unsexy" topic. We've all heard the bromides that the government "tried and failed" to solve urban poverty, the problem is just to too intractable to deal with, etc. Lemann, however, makes the issues and characters very clear and accessible. Best of all, his conclusion is a passionate and clear-minded prescription for change -- a great counterpoint to the cynicism of contemporary pundits and policymakers.


Every White person should read The Promised Land.   October 17, 1999
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

The Promised Land defies the myth of level playing fields in the so-called democracy called America. Slavery, the sharecropping system, Jim Crow, segregation, White violence toward Blacks, and continued social, economic, political and institutional racism display the very foundation upon which this society is built. Lemann challenges readers to deal with this truth and acknowledge privilege, racism, exploitation and victimhood. After reading The Promised Land one has to be mentally warped to continue blaming victims for their plights.


Terrific reading   June 28, 2006
Armand C. Monturano (Phila.PA USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

For someone who has just visited the delta area of Mississippi and actually traversed some of the hollow grounds of the plantations all thru the Clarksdale area, this was accurate,enjoyable and fascinating reading.


Recommended by a conservative talk show host   February 9, 2007
Twice-lived (Lyons, CO United States)
Years ago, on the recommendation of a black conservative talk show host, I read this book. While I could understand how this man could read a corroboration of his own views into this book, the conclusions I drew were considerably more compassionate. This historical analysis does not propose solutions as much as illustrate and analyze the issues of ascendancy from slavery.