During World War I, tens of thousands of African Americans fled the South. In Up South, a Mississippi barber and a sharecropper woman tell how they organized groups to escape Jim Crow laws, lynchings, and forced labor. The promise of freedom and full citizenship drew them to Chicago. Once there, the migrants faced poor housing, discrimination on the job, and racial violence. They responded by forming women’s clubs, engaging in political campaigns, and creating the “New Negro” movement. (Length: 30 minutes)

A Spanish transcript of Up South is available to download below.

Chapter selection

1. Hattiesburg (2:09)
2. Debate (3:56)
3. Plans (6:02)
4. Exodus (10:29)
5. Promised Land (12:10)
6. On The Job (18:35)
7. Trouble (21:36)
8. July 1919 (23:17)
9. Making Our Way (24:55)

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Teaching Materials

Viewer’s Guide (.pdf)

See teaching activity for this film in Social History for Every Classroom (SHEC)

Descargue el guión traducido al español (download script in Spanish) (.pdf)