Browse Exhibits (5 total)

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As I first began to work on this project my goal was to find moments where migrants from the South travelled along Hillbilly Highway and found moments of joy and community despite desperate economic conditions. Hillbilly Highway is the term coined by Steven Earle in 1986 denoting the path Southerners and Appalachians took to Midwestern cities when looking for economic opportunities. With the mechanization of mines, hundreds of thousands of migrants came to the North to find work. 

Without thinking twice, I stated that I only wanted to look for these moments of humanity or connection, away from workspaces, factories, or fields. However, along the way, I began to realize how I was negating the true experience of a working-class, Southern migrant. I was demanding them to work and survive in adverse conditions while documenting their lives in detail. I was asking too much of the historical actors I claimed to serve. With this realization, I began to reorient myself and what it meant to uncover moments of community when individuals were working seven days a week for twelve-hour days. To start, where have previous scholars found evidence of a working-class community? What were their findings, and how did they unveil the relationship between the workplace and community building? 

I came upon Robin Kelley and his article, “We Are Not What We Seem:” Rethinking the Black Working Class Opposition in the Jim Crow South. Kelley is a Professor of American History at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his work theoretically grounds my entire project. In this article, Kelley builds upon Anthropologist James C. Scott’s infrapolitics concept. Infrapolitics or the daily struggle waged by subaltern groups “should be invisible… is in large part by design — a tactical choice born in prudent awareness of the balance of power.” The theory of infrapolitics challenges the researcher to not ignore tiny moments of resistance. In stealing moments for themselves and being proud of their identity, the migrants participated in infrapolitics and influenced the political world in which they were living. Daily actions by migrants had consequences for existing power relationships and shaped the communities they were a part of. 

Rather than looking for huge parties, secret sex scandals, or migrants doubled over in laughter, I must look for the small moments.The moments where they snuck away from the production line, took a drag off a cigarette, and sang a song. These seemingly tiny moments are what I need to be looking for, and this is what I have found.

At the start of this project, I wanted to focus on the demographic development of Fort Worth's North Side neighborhood and why it became it a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, and what it can say about the city and immigration.

In researching for this project, I was not surprised to one, find Fort Worth history so focused on notable white residents and industries run by white people that shaped the city and two, discover a general lack in scholarship and history of the Mexican and Hispanic residents of the city. The sources that examined and documented the history of Mexican immigration and residents to Fort Worth were largely focused on the early 20th century. I wrote what I could find – and given more time, I am sure I can find satisfying post-World War II histories of Mexican Fort Worth that answer my questions about other largely Mexican parts of the city and what the demographic, economic, and social trends in the North Side say about the future of the North Side.

The pages in this project feature a look at Mexican immigration to Texas in the early 20th century, a general history of the city of Fort Worth and the North Side, the pull factors that brought Mexican immigrants to Fort Worth, how these Mexican immigrants settled in the North Side and in the city, and lastly, a reflection of the gaps in the research.

Note: Click on the photographs and maps to see their citations.

For some immigrants, Atlanta is only a passing place on the way to a final destination. For others, it becomes the city they call home or even raise their families. Either way, these passages create the constant movement that in turn forms the flowing sociocultural fabric of the international city. This mapping project highlights just a few of the many places in the city where immigrants have made space for themselves or that otherwise highlight the migrant experience. These places are physical manifestations of immigrant prescence in Atlanta, and visitors should consider both the built environment and the feeling of these structures or installations.

Many of these places are immigrant owned restaurants and markets, some of them located along Atlanta's famous Buford Highway, where visitors can try international cuisines or shop from a wider variety of groceries. Others are artistic installments, including murals, that celebrate immigration. A final place, which falls into neither of these categories, is the Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. An inherently transient place, and a first point of arrival for some immigrants, the airport represents the freedom of movement and Atlanta's title as an interanational city. 

Click here to explore a selection of Atlanta's landmarks of migration.