The Great Migration

From the 1910s until the 1970s, about six million Black southerners migrated from the American South to the North. This migration is sometimes called The Great Migration. They left the states of Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. They moved to big Northeastern cities like New York, Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia. They also moved West to Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, and Portland.

In 1900, 90 percent of the African American population lived in the South. By the 1970s, 47 percent of all African Americans lived in the North and the West. Why did so many African American southerners leave their hometowns and states? People left for many reasons. They wanted a better future for themselves and for their children. One of the most important reasons was to escape the dangerous situation in the South for Black people.

From 1619 until 1865, Black people were enslaved in the United States. Most enslaved Black people lived in the southern states. Enslaved people were forced to work difficult jobs without pay or freedom. They were tortured and killed. Children were separated from their parents. They could not vote. Often, they were not even allowed to read or write.

During this time, some enslaved people escaped and started a new life in the North or in Canada. But when the Civil War ended in 1865, most Black Americans still lived in the South.

After the Civil War, life began to change in the South. The federal government tried to give Black Americans their basic rights: the right to vote, the right to have property, and the right to be safe. Many people began to open businesses. They became doctors or lawyers or teachers. They began to make a better life in the South.

But many White people in the South did not want Black people to have these rights. They began creating racist laws, called “Jim Crow” laws. These laws made it more difficult to live in the South. They made African Americans into “second-class citizens.” Racism and discrimination became bigger and bigger problems each year.

In the South, most African Americans worked difficult jobs. They picked cotton, tobacco, or oranges for White landowners. These workers were called sharecroppers. The White landowner sold the crops that the sharecroppers grew. They sometimes didn’t pay the sharecroppers. They sometimes kept all of the money for themselves. Many Black women cleaned houses and cooked for wealthy White families. They did not earn much money. People said that there were good jobs in the northern cities.

Moreover, there was a lot of violence against African Americans. Sometimes groups of White people beat or killed Black people. When a White man murdered a Black man, the White man was not arrested. Life was dangerous for Black people in the South. People were traumatized by the violence. People who lived in the North told their friends and family in the South that life was safer in the North.

People decided to leave their homes and begin a new life. Sometimes it was difficult and dangerous to leave the South. Some White people threatened Black people who wanted to leave. Sometimes a train station wouldn’t sell a ticket to a Black family. Sometimes people had to leave secretly. They pretended that they were making a short trip. They didn’t tell their friends that they were leaving. They left their belongings behind.

Sometimes Black migrants had family who already lived in a Northern city. They followed their cousins or aunts or brothers to the same city. Sometimes they didn’t know anybody. They rode a train or a bus to Detroit, New York, or another city. They came into the new city without anyone to welcome them.

The language was the same, but there were many differences between life in the North and the South for these migrants. People talked differently in the North and the West. There were different types of jobs. The weather was much colder in the North. Black Americans had more rights. There was less segregation.

Starting a new life was not always easy. There was discrimination and prejudice in the North and West, too. Black Americans often had to live in different neighborhoods from White Americans. Some of these neighborhoods were very poor. Many of them were crowded.

Many of the jobs were difficult or didn’t pay enough. People worked in factories. They built cars and airplanes. They worked in houses and stores. They cooked and cleaned. They drove cars or operated elevators. Additionally, many people became professionals. They went to college or university. They became doctors and lawyers and teachers. They started small businesses and large businesses.

The jobs were better-paying than the farming jobs in the South, but rent was very expensive. Some people became rich, but many people were poor. Even though they didn’t have a lot of money, many people sent money back to family members in the South. The family members who lived in the South saw that their northern relatives made more money. Sometimes, they decided to move North, too.

African Americans often had their own communities in the cities where they lived. Because of segregation and discrimination, they often had their own Black neighborhoods, Black churches, and Black schools. People worked together to create important cultural movements. They worked with their new communities and with friends, family, and colleagues who still lived in the South to fight for civil rights.

Music and literature were important parts of Black life during this time. Migrants brought blues music from Mississippi to Chicago and to the West Coast. They brought jazz from New Orleans to nightclubs in New York. People wrote novels and poetry. They told the world about their lives, their culture, and their history.

People fought against discrimination and prejudice. In the 1950s and 1960s, their struggle was called the Civil Rights movement. Black people and some White people from the North and the South were angry about the unjust laws and bad treatment of African Americans. They organized and protested against discrimination and violence. Many Black migrants participated in the civil rights movement. They went to meetings, protested, and participated in civil rights organizations. It was sometimes dangerous, but it was important work. It helped make things better in America for everyone.

People continued to struggle against discrimination and violence. However, because of their hard work, life began to be more fair and safer for African Americans in the South. Migration from the southern states slowed down.

Many famous Americans participated in the Great Migration as children or adults. Some famous migrants were John Coltrane, Bill Russell, Zora Neale Hurston, James Earl Jones, Jackie Robinson, and many more famous musicians, writers, actors, and athletes.

Many famous people are the children of people who participated in the Great Migration. Some children of the Great Migration include Miles Davis, Michelle Obama, Toni Morrison, Lorraine Hansberry, Venus and Serena Williams, Denzel Washington, and many more.

The Great Migration changed America. Black migrants made many sacrifices. They worked very hard to improve their lives and to help others. Their stories are an important part of American history.