The Making of Africa America-four great migrations by Ira Berlin, a professor at Maryland University and renowned scholar in African

Americans History writes about how culture is formed in African-American society. The movements, economic influence and the placement of the African Americans are controversial issues Berlin tackles when dealing with the development of African-American culture. Ira Berlin does not associate black culture with slavery rather the development of new communities and reconstruction of new AfricanAmerican society and traditions. Ira Berlin calls the four migrations great and lays out the importance of each one. Each migration impacted the lives of African and African Americans to and inside America. The first migration is what some would call horrific and inhumane, the passage across the Atlantic. This allowed slavery to enter America in the 17th and 18th centuries. The second is forced movement, with the booming of agriculture and lack the cotton gin; plantation owners needed slaves to pick cotton. Therefore slaves were moved from the East Coast to the South. The Great Migration is the third of Berlins migration. The end of the Civil War and the triumph of the North shaped the nation in 1877. Industrial America arises and along with it the gilded age. Many people grew apprehensive of the cities and started moving west toward the frontier, leaving factory work unattended. African Americans moved into the North and started working and living within the cities. The fourth and final migration is the arrival of immigrants from all over Africa as well as the Caribbean. These immigrants make up a quarter of Americas population growth during the end of the 20th century. Theses four migrations are what shapes African American culture and how they adapt to a new way of life.

Berlin argues that each movement deals with the economics of America, along side the oppression of African Americans. These four movements are the result of either forced migration or adaptation. Americans needed slaves for labor in East; planters wanted and needed the slaves to work in their fields. Factories were in need of men and women due to a majority of whites were moving to the frontier. Today Africans live and work along side Americans, picking up jobs that benefit them more then they would anywhere else. AfricanAmericans moved around and had to live among oppression. Jobs and education were denied to them in obvious ways. Like most know educated people affect the economy for the better, and without the opportunity for higher education White-Americans deprived African-Americans of ways to further themselves. African Americans A home away from home African-Americans assimilated into white American culture adopting new traditions to replace the forgotten ones of Africa. Many African Americans felt this intense attachment toward the land. Berlin mentions men and women who gave oral accounts to actually wanting and choosing to stay on the land. After the Emancipation of the slaves and the end of the Civil War, countless African Americans not only created new lives for themselves but also created new identities. For the first time since the 17th century, they actually have place they called home. By embracing Americanism African-Americans built churches, schools and communities that helped them adapt and learn how to live among WhiteAmericans. Yet wanting to keep some traditions the same they developed music that is at the very heart of their culture. Jazz was a form of music that was new although became important in their lives. During this time the Civil Rights raged on along with the creation of NAACP and Black Nationalism. Unlike the Civil Rights and NAACP, Black Nationalism was not accepted. The minority rather than the majority embraced Black Nationalism because what it represented.

Black nationalist stressed the need to be set apart but Africans-Americans embraced who they were and that was American. There are numerous things that Berlin leaves out that could have also played a role in formation of their culture. The issue African-Americans freed themselves was never answered in away one could understand why Berlin believes this. Lincoln played a major role in the freeing of African-Americans with the Emancipation Proclamation, yet Berlin does not talk about him in away that inflates his importance. It appears as if Berlin is telling the untold story and the impact these unknown stories have on culture to those who know the story. However he needs to take into consideration of the unknown audience, those who dont know the background. In the passage to the Atlantic, Berlin in detail talks about the horrors of slave trade, yet doesnt address much of the struggles after that. Berlin focused on the minority of the population. He cannot simply talk about the top 10% of a culture when the development is the culture as a whole. When America arose from World War II as an affluent society the sense of the American Dream came to play a part in every American. African-Americans had their own sense of the American dream. While they pushed their children to become educated and have a better life then them, they knew if something did not change their way of life would remain the same. Thus the Civil Rights come into play, however Berlin never really addresses them in away most know about. He is forgetting that some might not know the background. The Bill Cosby life was this idealistic life that people strived for yet very few African-Americans actually achieved. More African-Americans related their life to that of .50$ and his story. After the fall of Industrial America in the 1970s the American dream died and this since of repetitiveness came to play in their lives just like anyone else.

The movement, economic influence and place are important in the lives and development of African American Culture. With the elections of President Barack Obama the term African American was redefined and a new understanding developed. Their culture developed in accordance to new traditions and new communities they built in response to the end of Civil War and the freedom they gained.