Who Set You Flowin'?: The African-American Migration Narrative

Who Set You Flowin'? examines African American migration narratives across literature, music, and art during the Great Migration period of 1910-1970. Griffin analyzes works by writers, musicians, and visual artists who documented the mass movement of Black Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North. The book focuses on four key spaces in migration narratives: the South as an ancestral homeland, the journey North, the urban landscape, and safe spaces created within Northern cities. Through close readings of works by Richard Wright, Jacob Lawrence, Toni Morrison and others, Griffin traces how these spaces shaped both individual stories and broader cultural expression. The text incorporates analysis of blues lyrics, paintings, novels, and autobiographical works to build a comprehensive view of how artists portrayed migration experiences. Griffin examines both the physical realities of relocation and the psychological transitions migrants underwent. This interdisciplinary study reveals migration as a defining force in African American cultural production, connecting personal journeys to collective memory and identity formation. The work demonstrates how creative expressions of migration experiences contributed to new understandings of citizenship, community, and belonging in 20th century America.

Readers appreciate Griffin's analysis of migration narratives across multiple genres - literature, music, art, and film. Many note the book fills a gap in scholarship by connecting works like Native Son, Invisible Man, and Blues for Mister Charlie through the lens of African American migration. Multiple reviews highlight the clear writing style and thorough research. Several professors mention assigning it in African American literature courses with good student engagement. Some readers found the theoretical framework too dense in places. A few reviews noted they wanted more analysis of contemporary migration stories beyond the mid-20th century period. Ratings: Goodreads: 4.11/5 (45 ratings) Amazon: 4.5/5 (8 ratings) JSTOR: Cited in over 500 academic works From a graduate student reviewer on Goodreads: "Griffin weaves together literature, history, and theory in an accessible way. Her chapter on safe spaces in migration narratives opened up new ways of reading familiar texts."

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson This chronicle of the Great Migration follows three individuals' journeys from South to North, documenting their struggles and aspirations through oral histories and archival research.

Black Chicago by James R. Grossman The book examines African American migration to Chicago during World War I, focusing on the social networks, institutions, and cultural transformations that shaped the city's Black community.

The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Thomas J. Sugrue This study traces the interconnection between racial discrimination, industrial decline, and urban transformation in Detroit from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Creating Black Americans by Nell Irvin Painter The text combines art history with migration narratives to present African American history through visual culture and personal stories of movement and displacement.

The New Black History by Manning Marable and Elizabeth Kai Hinton The volume connects African American migration patterns to broader themes of resistance, identity formation, and community building across different historical periods.

🌟 The term "Migration Narrative" was first coined by Farah Jasmine Griffin in this groundbreaking 1995 work, giving name to an entire genre of African American literature focused on the Great Migration. 🌟 Griffin examines how the urban landscape in migration narratives often serves as both a symbol of possibility and a site of disillusionment, particularly focusing on spaces like Chicago's South Side and Harlem. 🌟 The book's title comes from a line in Richard Wright's "Black Boy," highlighting how migration stories often begin with a catalyst - usually violence or economic hardship - that sets the protagonist "flowin'" northward. 🌟 The author explores works across multiple artistic mediums, including literature (Toni Morrison), visual art (Jacob Lawrence), and music (Miles Davis), showing how the Great Migration influenced all aspects of African American culture. 🌟 Griffin is now chair of Columbia University's African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, and this book, her first, has become a cornerstone text in migration studies and African American literary criticism.