Second Great Migration

Second Great Migration
Jajhill · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name	Second Great Migration
Years	1941–1970s
Causes	World War II labor demand; Jim Crow segregation; mechanization of agriculture
Participants	African Americans
Origin	Southern United States
Destinations	Northern United States; Western United States; Midwestern United States

Second Great Migration The Second Great Migration (c. 1941–1970s) was a major internal movement of African Americans from the Southern United States to urban centers in the Northeastern United States, Midwestern United States, and Western United States. Triggered by wartime labor demands, sociopolitical pressures, and technological change, it reshaped the demographics of cities such as New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The migration intersected with events and institutions including World War II, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, and the policies of the Federal Housing Administration.

Background and causes

Key causes included labor shortages produced by World War II mobilization, which increased demand in industries like Bethlehem Steel, Ford Motor Company, Boeing, and Quick Silver mines—prompting recruitment campaigns and the expansion of wartime plants in places such as Los Angeles Naval Shipyard and the Detroit Arsenal. Mechanization of cotton harvesting and agribusiness expansion in states like Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina reduced labor needs on plantations and sharecropping operations tied to families who had long histories with the Plantation Belt. Racial terrorism, exemplified by incidents in Tulsa, Birmingham, Alabama, and legal segregation codified by state laws in the Jim Crow laws era pushed migrants toward cities promising better labor markets and relative legal protections, while federal policy initiatives such as the Fair Employment Practices Committee influenced employer hiring in urban industrial centers.

Demographics and destinations

The movement involved millions of people, with large flows from counties in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina to metropolitan areas including New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The demographic profile skewed younger and included families, single workers, veterans returning from World War II and the Korean War, and women joining wartime industries such as the Rosie the Riveter workforce. Secondary migrations connected cities—for example, movements from Chicago to Milwaukee and Gary, Indiana to Cleveland—while patterns of settlement produced concentrations in neighborhoods like Harlem, Bronzeville, Black Belt (Chicago area), South Los Angeles, and West Oakland.

Economic and occupational impacts

Migrants filled jobs in heavy industry, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and service sectors at employers including General Motors, Chrysler, Union Pacific Railroad, Bethlehem Steel, and Woolworths. Labor-market shifts intersected with labor unions such as the United Auto Workers, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and the American Federation of Labor, generating disputes over access, seniority, and discrimination that led to legal contests under statutes like the Taft-Hartley Act. The influx increased urban labor supply, contributed to industrial growth in the Rust Belt during wartime and early postwar years, and later influenced the rise of the service sector in metropolitan economies such as Los Angeles County and Cook County, Illinois.

Social, cultural, and political effects

The migration transformed cultural life through the spread and evolution of artistic movements, musical genres, and institutions: the expansion of jazz scenes from New Orleans and Kansas City to New York City and Chicago, the proliferation of blues and gospel traditions, and the emergence of figures and organizations including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and publishing platforms like The Crisis and Ebony. Politically, concentrations of Black voters in cities contributed to the electoral power of politicians such as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and reshaped party coalitions for the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, while fueling activism embodied by groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Congress of Racial Equality, and later the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Social institutions including churches (e.g., National Baptist Convention, USA), fraternal orders, and neighborhood associations became pivotal in community organization.

Urban development and housing consequences

Rapid urbanization produced demand pressures that collided with discriminatory practices implemented by entities such as the Federal Housing Administration, private developers like Levitt & Sons, and local zoning boards in municipalities including Newark and Detroit. Practices such as redlining by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation and racially restrictive covenants shaped segregation patterns, contributing to concentrated poverty in districts like South Bronx and West Baltimore. Responses included legal challenges advanced in courts like the United States Supreme Court (notably in cases related to housing) and community-led initiatives exemplified by organizations such as the Urban League, the National Urban League, and grassroots leaders who campaigned for public-housing reform, antipoverty programs, and urban renewal projects associated with officials in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles.

Legacy and historiography

Historians and social scientists—writing in journals and monographs by scholars connected to institutions including Howard University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, and University of California, Los Angeles—have debated the migration's long-term effects on metropolitan inequality, cultural production, and political realignment. Works by authors such as Isabel Wilkerson, Massey and Denton, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ira Katznelson, and William Julius Wilson frame interpretations that emphasize structural factors, cultural agency, and policy consequences. The Second Great Migration's legacy appears in contemporary demographic patterns across metropolitan regions like New York metropolitan area, Chicago metropolitan area, and Los Angeles metropolitan area, ongoing discussions in venues such as the United States Census Bureau reports, and commemorations in museums including the National Museum of African American History and Culture and local historical societies.

Category:Demographic history of the United States