Go Tell It On the Mountain spans a time frame in US history in which North and South were super starkly divided. It reaches far back into the time of slavery and the Civil War, when the South was holding on to the institution of slavery and the North fought to end it.
It stretches up into the 1930s, when the Northern cities were the site of black migration from the rural South and represented challenges for the population, such as urban crime, new family structures, and poverty. The novel's characters tell the history of this migration from its roots in slavery to Jim Crow.
Questions About Contrasting Regions: North & South
- Which characters seem to prefer the South? Which the North? Why?
- What are Florence's and Gabriel's differing attitudes about the North when she decides to go away?
- Why do you think Richard hates the South? If he and Elizabeth had married before moving North, would their lives have been different?
- How do the characters' experiences stay the same between South and North? What doesn't change with migration?
Chew on This
In Go Tell It On the Mountain, there's not a real difference between the racism in the South and in the North.
In Go Tell It On the Mountain, the North represents the sin and corruption of the city, while the South is idealized.