The Great Migration
Chicago Style Blues Intro: Instrumental
In 1850, some 300 Black people lived in Chicago. However, during each of the following decades, that number tripled. By 1930, more than half of the African American population in the United States lived in northern cities and towns. Between 1910 and 1920, over 60,000 black people migrated to Chicago. Out of the 109,000 blacks living in Chicago, 90,000 were migrants, and 20,000 of them were born in Mississippi. Many companies in the North required labor, regardless of color, and offered reasonable compensation for it.
African Americans saw the North as a land of opportunities unavailable to them in the South. They believed racial prejudice was less common in the North, and they had access to better jobs and more opportunities in the music industry. This newfound optimism led many African Americans to write home to their families in the South about the excitement and glamor of city life. Little Brother Montgomery's 1946 song, "Lake Front Blues," captures this hopeful spirit.
EX- Lakefront Blues- Note: The Green Diamond was a first-class streamlined passenger train operated by the Illinois Central Railroad between Chicago, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri.
From the 1920s to the 1940s, several record labels specializing in blues emerged in Chicago. These labels produced some of the country's best "race" records. The recording industry used "race records" to categorize black music until Billboard introduced the term Rhythm and Blues in 1946.
Some Early Urban Chicago Blues artists that gained recognition during this time were Tampa Red, Lonnie Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes, Little Brother Montgomery, and Big Bill Broonzey.
In 1920, a fair-skinned black vaudeville singer, Mamie Smith, became the first black female artist to record a blues song. The title of the song was "Crazy Blues". 1920 was also the beginning of the Classic Female Blues Singers era, which included Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters (also known as Sweet Mama String Bean), and Alberta Hunter. Because of discrimination, some black female artists, including Ada "Bricktop" Smith and Josephine Baker, performed for European audiences. The contributions of women in the Blues genre are immense.
In the 1950s, Chicago had a population of well over 500,000 blacks. During this decade, two brothers, Phil and Leonard Chess, recorded blues musicians while operating several Southside clubs. They founded the Chess Recording Company, which dominated the field of Chicago blues recordings. Notable artists who recorded for Chess Records include Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Etta James, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, and other
Blues music traveled across the U.S. to new cities and towns, creating new styles, such as
EX Jazz Blues and Jump Blues.
-Fruteland Jackson
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