“Identity, Pride, and a Paycheck: Appalachian and Other Southern Women in Uptown, Chicago, 1950-1970.”
Dublin Core
Title
“Identity, Pride, and a Paycheck: Appalachian and Other Southern Women in Uptown, Chicago, 1950-1970.”
Description
In this journal article Richard Guy argues that the voice of “women remains conspicuously absent or subsumed within the family” regarding postwar migration out of the South to Uptown, Chicago (Guy, 46). He claims that in the previous historiography, women have not been labeled as actors in their migration. The purpose of his article is to center women in the Appalachian migration story (Guy, 46). Between 1950 and 1970, 40 to 80 percent of migrants to Chicago came from the South (Guy, 51). Half of this migration originated from Kentucky and West Virginia (48). From 1950 to 1956, approximately 800,000 people moved to Chicago (Guy, 51).
Many Southern women saw the migration to Uptown as an opportunity for social mobility, for women to get employed, and for more independence (Guy, 46, 51). While Uptown was in an abysmal condition when many families arrived, women still found themselves holding the family together, and women’s work often guaranteed the family's survival (Guy, 46). Contrary to previous narratives about migration in Appalachian studies, Guy discovered that women were key in the family's decision to move to Chicago. They had “an impressive amount of control in directing their family’s migration” (Guy, 56). The women interviewed by Guy were clear that while they did enjoy increased independence and freedom in Uptown, it was not without large amounts of calculated risks (Guy, 55). Women were also more likely than men to discuss issues of race and seemed to be more willing to be receptive to working with people of color to survive (Guy, 55). The evidence presented by Guy demonstrates that women were more autonomous than previous scholarship suggested and that women were formidable powerhouses both in the move to Uptown and once they arrived.
Many Southern women saw the migration to Uptown as an opportunity for social mobility, for women to get employed, and for more independence (Guy, 46, 51). While Uptown was in an abysmal condition when many families arrived, women still found themselves holding the family together, and women’s work often guaranteed the family's survival (Guy, 46). Contrary to previous narratives about migration in Appalachian studies, Guy discovered that women were key in the family's decision to move to Chicago. They had “an impressive amount of control in directing their family’s migration” (Guy, 56). The women interviewed by Guy were clear that while they did enjoy increased independence and freedom in Uptown, it was not without large amounts of calculated risks (Guy, 55). Women were also more likely than men to discuss issues of race and seemed to be more willing to be receptive to working with people of color to survive (Guy, 55). The evidence presented by Guy demonstrates that women were more autonomous than previous scholarship suggested and that women were formidable powerhouses both in the move to Uptown and once they arrived.
Source
Roger Guy, “Identity, Pride, and a Paycheck: Appalachian and Other Southern Women in Uptown, Chicago, 1950-1970,” Journal of Appalachian Studies, vol. 7, no. 1, 2001, pp. 46–63.
Collection
Citation
““Identity, Pride, and a Paycheck: Appalachian and Other Southern Women in Uptown, Chicago, 1950-1970.”,” The Kudzu Experience, accessed July 21, 2025, https://kudzu.ecdsomeka.org/items/show/144.