It's a Long Way from Home

High School: Grades 9–12

Vocabulary

WordsDefinitions
Great Migration the term that describes the 1916-70 migration of thousands of African Americans who moved from the southern states seeking a better life in northern cities
jazz an ever-changing and evolving form of music, at times improvisational, that originated in the United States and was heavily influenced by African Americans
sharecropping a system of agriculture that emerged in the South after the Civil War and the end of slavery, in which a tenant farmer does not own the land he cultivates and so must pay the landowner a share of the crops he produces as rent and to cover other expenses including equipment and seed
Jazz Age slang words and phrases
snap my cap get mad
split to leave
break it down go to town
hand me that skin shake hands
lay down some hot licks a good phrase or solo played in a jazz composition
lid hat
giggle-water an alcoholic drink, especially whiskey or gin
black and tan club a nightclub that catered to both black and white patrons

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