Ric S. Sheffield

The rural Midwest region of this nation has been home to various racial and ethnic groups, albeit in small numbers, from the earliest days of settlement by non-indigenous people. This absence of a significant numerical presence resulted in the lives and experiences of these people being largely overlooked, if not outright ignored, by the mainstream press, academicians, and local historians. Even popular culture, by the absence of the depiction of rural folks of color, suggests that their presence was either non-existent or didn’t have any meaningful impact upon the region. Among the earliest migrants to the area were African Americans, both free and formerly enslaved. The migration patterns throughout the Midwest saw many, if not most, Black families head north out of southern states during Reconstruction and again after the World Wars largely to seek work in rapidly industrializing urban areas like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland. A much smaller proportion of the Black migrants chose to settle in rural areas where they could take up farming or engage in other types of wage labor within small-town environments with which they were familiar. European immigrants came to the rural Midwest to join family and former townsmen who had settled in these areas. Regardless of their countries of origin or the fact that many were non-English speakers, white migrants more easily integrated into the social fabric of small towns because of race. For most other nonwhite persons, there were few of the traditional draws to settle there: no specialized labor market or economic attractions; no existing ethnic or cultural enclaves; and few familial ties. As a consequence, racial and cultural differences became and have remained major factors in how communities are organized and experienced despite the fact that white residents tend not to see or even accept that to be the case. This program sheds light on these hidden “communities within.”