This ethno-historical analysis uses the oral histories of three generations of African American migrants to Saginaw, Michigan to show how social processes within the African American community changed in response to the local race-based opportunity structure.
This study focuses on the black migration to this northern industrial community that occurred in two waves between 1915 and 1960 and argues that different levels of expectations informed how each wave responded to the local social structure and the resulting demands for change.
What will be made clear is that the social landscape for African Americans coming north at the start of the second half of the last century changed drastically, based upon a foundation laid by the migrants arriving in the first half of the twentieth century. This book suggests that the earlier cohort served to fill the social spaces created by the pre-1915 migrants and learned how to “get by” in a society that offered few real opportunities for its Black citizens. The second wave arrived after World War II into a society that promised more, even as it failed to deliver, and demands for social justice became louder. This book details the impact of each wave through interviews and secondary data. Then it locates the origins of an activist black church and middle-class demands in the changes to material conditions of the city’s Black residents and hence, cultural change over time.
Publication date: December 18, 2026
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Lists of Tables and Illustrations
Prologue
1 Pre-migration Saginaw: Birth of a City, from Dust to Steel
2 The City’s Roots
3 Saginaw: a Divided City
4 Residential Patterns and Emergence of Race-Based Housing Patterns
5 Industry and Work
6 Early Population Shifts
7 Early Arrivals: the Re-birth of Community and Black Life
8 African American Church Growth
9 Leadership
10 The NAACP: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
1 Introduction
1 Study Populations
2 A Native Anthropologist
3 Oral History Approach
4 Variation across Black Migrations
5 Early Black Migration North
6 A History of Racism and Broken Promises to Black Americans
7 Role and Survival of Religion
8 White Gratifications and Black Inequality
2 Coming of Age in the South: a Life of Segregation, Exploitation, Marginalization and Violence
1 The Southern Environment
2 Caste and Reproduction of Domination
3 Staying in Place—the Respectful Negro
4 Separate and Unequal
5 Segregated Transportation or Negroes in the Back
6 Politics and Voting … Not for Negroes
7 Religion and the Black Church, the Two Bright Spots for Southern Blacks
8 The Exploitative Sharecropping System: the Final Nail in the Coffin
9 The Cotton Season and Schooling
10 Work Outside of Cotton Fields
11 Fueling the Decision to Leave the South
12 Conclusion: the Refusal to Stay in Place
3 1915–1945: Black Population Growth, Racism and Seeds of Resistance
1 A Brief History of General Motors in Saginaw
2 Technology and Growth of General Motors in Saginaw through 1940
3 Growth of Malleable and Grey Iron Foundries
4 General Motors and UAW Growth: 1940–1949
5 Malleable Foundry Growth: 1940–1949
6 Grey Iron Foundry Growth: 1940–1949
7 Selected Demographic Data for the Saginaw Cohort
8 General Motors, Caste Hiring, and ‘Nigger Jobs’
9 Race-Based Control of the Black Migrants
10 Racism in Saginaw
11 Emergence of the Black Enclave
12 Segregated Schools
13 West-Side Black Life in Saginaw
14 Black is Black: Equal Opportunity Inequality
15 Racism in Business
16 Growth of Race Businesses
17 African American Church Growth
18 Employment—the Saginaw Cohort
19 The NAACP Fight for Black Rights
20 Conclusion: the Seeds of Resistance Have Been Planted
4 1946–1960: the Seeds Blossom: Black Resistance and Roots of Civil Rights Politics
1 Selected Demographic Data for the Migration Cohort
2 Post–World War II: Continued Racism and Glimmers of Hope
3 Discrimination in Housing
4 An Insurgency Class and the UAW
5 Journey Stories: Trailblazers in the Fight for Equity and Equality
6 Wartime Demand and the Growth of General Motors
7 Second Wave Migration and Continuation of ‘Nigger Jobs’
8 The Legacy of Racism and Limited Opportunities Continues throughout the 1950s
9 The New Black Church, Middle-Class Leadership and the Seeds of Change
10 The Frontiers International Club
11 The Turbulent 1960s: Social Movement, the Power of Networks, and Progress
12 The Emergence of United Power
13 The Marsh Network: Group One
14 The United Power Network: Group Two
15 Bridge Links between the Two Networks
16 Conclusion
5 Conclusion
Appendix 1: Haithco 1946 Job Offer as First Black Saginaw Teacher
Appendix 2: Robinson 1953 Letter from General Motors
Appendix 3: Robinson 1953 First Pay from General Motors
Epilogue
Delayed Prosperity: Community, Culture and Continued Inequality
Bibliography
Index