When newcomers arrived in the north and west of Starling, Gladney, and Foster, the welcome was not warm. Wilkerson says that often, when immigrants from Southern states came to the North or West, most people shut their doors on them and didn't want to help. It takes a long time for them to find a place in the major cities of the North and West, but the Southerners who remain end up finding their way using elements of the old culture with the new opportunities of the North. Even traveling to newer states was not easy for African Americans. They usually travel by train, ship or bus. And it was very dangerous to travel because of the gas station where you can stop and even stop to get food. Even the long journeys that await us. You would never know what problems would be at the beginning of the trip. Typically, once black citizens arrived in the state, it was difficult to settle and find jobs with loss of skills. Like Ida Mae, her husband George ended up hauling ice up flights of stairs in cold Chicago, and Ida Mae did housework before finding a decent job. Wilkerson also says it took a long time to actually settle into an affordable home on Chicago's South Side. So traveling south wasn't cheap to get far, so many African Americans thought having money before leaving would be the best way to get to their destination.