OUR MOTHERS? GARDENS AND TABLES: TRANSCULTURATION, FOOD CULTURES AND MIGRATION IN THE MAKING OF BLACK MILWAUKEE
Mentor 1
Aims Guinness
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
This research assesses the process of transculturation that occurred during the black migration (1910s-1970s) between African American Southern traditions and Northern traditions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While initial examinations of the black migration have focused exclusively on black male migrants, an investigation of black women’s experiences is lacking. This is problematic because it tells a single story of communities that still exist. This project reveals that black women played a paramount role in the “merging and converging” of Southern and Northern values through food cultures such as urban gardening and cooking. Additionally, it situates women into this narrative of African American migration through culture. An examination of written narratives, archival documents, and research articles used in this study show that Milwaukee’s black culture was indeed influenced by the black women who migrated there. These sources also hint at the discrimination they faced when doing so, as not only women and African Americans but also as Southerners. Moreover, this study shows how even in the face of certain prejudices migrant women were still able to transform their then new homes into the Milwaukee one see’s today.
OUR MOTHERS? GARDENS AND TABLES: TRANSCULTURATION, FOOD CULTURES AND MIGRATION IN THE MAKING OF BLACK MILWAUKEE
Union Wisconsin Room
This research assesses the process of transculturation that occurred during the black migration (1910s-1970s) between African American Southern traditions and Northern traditions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While initial examinations of the black migration have focused exclusively on black male migrants, an investigation of black women’s experiences is lacking. This is problematic because it tells a single story of communities that still exist. This project reveals that black women played a paramount role in the “merging and converging” of Southern and Northern values through food cultures such as urban gardening and cooking. Additionally, it situates women into this narrative of African American migration through culture. An examination of written narratives, archival documents, and research articles used in this study show that Milwaukee’s black culture was indeed influenced by the black women who migrated there. These sources also hint at the discrimination they faced when doing so, as not only women and African Americans but also as Southerners. Moreover, this study shows how even in the face of certain prejudices migrant women were still able to transform their then new homes into the Milwaukee one see’s today.
