BUT IT IS A FINE PLACE TO MAKE MONEY - MIGRATION AND AFRICAN-AMERICANFAMILIES IN CLEVELAND 1915-1929

The new studies on African American migration betwen 1915 and 1930 to northern cities like Cleveland, Ohio, have shown how family and househ old reformation in the North and the continued links with family and h ouseholds in the South provided critical economic resources as migrant s moved out of the South. Few of these studies have explored how migra tion and settlement might have altered family and friend relationships and patterns of obligations. While migrants pursued a variety of econ omic calculations to meet their needs, other goats, such as the care o f children, the use of boarding to fill social and emotional needs, th e desire to be near kin and friends from the South, and the need to co ntinue cultural patterns of visiting, also significantly influenced bl ack household formation. In addition to traditional historical documen ts, this article explores first-person accounts by migrants to Clevela nd who demonstrate how family needs and the process of migration shape d each other. For many, moving North callenged many of their assumptio ns about and patterns of kinship, household, and friend obligation In addition, this study suggests how the sometimes long process of reasse mbling family and friend networks in the city frequently altered gende r and generational relations in families.