Great Migration (African American)

Great Migration (African American)
United States Bureau of the Census. · Public domain · source
Name	Great Migration (African American)
Caption	Map of African American migration routes, 1915–1970
Date	1910s–1970s
Location	United States
Participants	Migrants
Outcome	Major demographic shift of African American population to Northern, Midwestern, and Western cities

Great Migration (African American) The Great Migration was the large-scale movement of African American populations from the rural Southern United States to urban centers in the North, Midwest, and West during the 20th century. Driven by changes tied to World War I and World War II, industrial expansion, and Southern racial violence, the migration reshaped cities such as New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles and influenced figures like W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston.

Background and Causes

Escaping the legacy of Reconstruction Era retrenchment and Jim Crow laws such as the Black Codes and disenfranchisement after the Compromise of 1877, Black families faced pervasive violence from actors including Ku Klux Klan chapters and lynch mobs publicized by activists like Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Agricultural shifts caused by mechanisms such as the Sharecropping system, tenant farming, and the boll weevil infestation accelerated out-migration from states including Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina. Labor demand in urban manufacturing during World War I drew recruits from Southern locales toward employers like Ford Motor Company, Bethlehem Steel, and the Pullman Company, while labor leaders such as A. Philip Randolph and institutions such as the National Urban League mediated placement and advocacy.

Phases and Chronology

Historians divide the movement into phases: the First Great Migration (c. 1910–1930), featuring relocation to cities like Chicago and New York City during and after World War I; the Second Great Migration (c. 1940–1970), with wartime mobilization around World War II drawing migrants to Detroit and Los Angeles; and later postindustrial shifts linked to deindustrialization in the late 20th century affecting Cleveland, St. Louis, and Baltimore. Key events framing chronology include the 1919 Red Summer, the expansion of the U.S. Shipping Board and War Industries Board, the rise of labor disputes such as the Pullman Strike legacy, and federal policy shifts under administrations like Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt that intersected with programs like the New Deal.

Demographic Patterns and Routes

Migrants traveled along rail corridors serviced by companies such as the Illinois Central Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad, often departing from hubs like New Orleans, Memphis, and Jackson, Mississippi. Destination clusters formed in metropolitan regions: the Harlem neighborhood of New York City; the South Side, Chicago area near Bronzeville; the Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods of Detroit; the Gerrity and Watts areas of Los Angeles; and industrial zones in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Chain migration linked kin networks to churches like African Methodist Episcopal Church congregations and organizations such as the Universal Negro Improvement Association and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, while censuses by the United States Census Bureau tracked redistribution from rural counties to Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Economic and Labor Impacts

The influx altered labor markets in sectors including automobile manufacturing at Ford Motor Company and General Motors, steel production at Carnegie Steel Company descendants, meatpacking in Chicago, and shipbuilding in Wilmington, California and Portland, Oregon. African American laborers filled positions during defense mobilization under agencies such as the War Production Board and participated in labor organizing alongside unions like the Congress of Industrial Organizations and figures such as Philip Murray and John L. Lewis, despite exclusionary practices by some locals of the American Federation of Labor. Economic outcomes varied: earning opportunities in cities increased household incomes, yet discriminatory employment led many to informal economies and service sectors exemplified by domestic work for patrons tied to families in Brooklyn, Rochester, and Seattle.

Social and Cultural Effects

Urban concentrations fostered cultural renaissances and intellectual movements centered in places such as Harlem with contributors including Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, and James Baldwin. Institutions like the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, historically Black colleges and universities such as Howard University and Tuskegee Institute, and Black-owned businesses exemplified by Marcus Garvey’s enterprises incubated cultural production. Migration impacted religious life through denominations including the Baptist Convention and shaped music genres—jazz, blues, gospel, and later rhythm and blues—while press organs like the Chicago Defender, Pittsburgh Courier, and Amsterdam News mobilized opinion and advertised opportunities.

Political Consequences

Political realignment occurred as African American voters and leaders engaged with entities including the Democratic Party and the Republican Party; figures like A. Philip Randolph and Thurgood Marshall advanced civil rights litigation and labor activism. Urban electoral power increased in city governments of New York City, Chicago, and Detroit, influencing policy debates at the state level in New Jersey and Ohio and nationally in Congress members from districts such as Harlem (Congressional District) and Michigan's 13th congressional district. Civil rights organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee later linked Northern bases to Southern campaigns including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Legacy and Commemoration

The migration reshaped American demography, contributing to suburbanization trends, white flight in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles County and Cook County, and policy responses including the Fair Housing Act and urban renewal programs tied to Robert Moses projects. Memorialization appears in museums such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture, historical exhibits at the Schomburg Center, and scholarship by historians like Isabel Wilkerson and Eric Foner, while cultural legacies persist in literature, music, and urban architecture in neighborhoods like Harlem and Bronzeville. The Great Migration remains central to understandings of 20th-century American social transformation and to ongoing studies by institutions such as the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution.

Category:African American history