Reasons for the Migration

The great migration is considered as a significant black history in the US, were more than six million African Americans migrated from the south to the northern part of the US. Several factors participated in the movement of these people. Most African Americans were working on cotton farms in the south as farmers in the late 1800’s. Farming was the main source of income, not many options were available to them and that’s mainly due to discrimination. This is because of racism was at its peak in the US. High colored jobs were mainly done by white Caucasians so the farms were there main source of income and in the late 1800,s that was no longer available. In 1898 the tiny boll weevil invaded Texas and proceeded to eat its way east across the South. Crops were devastated, thousands of agricultural workers thrown off the and the long reign of King Cotton as the region’s economic backbone was finally brought to an end. This economic impact and the racism in the south as mentioned in the article Great Migration, “The Great Migration, or the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from 1916 to 1970, had a huge impact on urban life in the United States. Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers”. During this time the First World War just started and industrial workers were needed in the north to supply equipment’s needed for the war. Most migrants see this as an opportunity to make a better living and also gaining as racism was not as bad in the North compared to the South. This relocation resulted in a massive demographic shift across the United States. Cities such as New York, Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland saw a huge percentage increase in African American community population and the number of African Americans employed in industrial jobs doubled.

 The Great Migration had such an effect on almost every aspect of our lives — from the music that we listen to the politics of our country to the ways the cities even look and feel, even today. The sub-urbanization and the ghettos that were created as a result of the limits of where African-Americans could live in the North still exist today. And the South was forced to change, in part because they were losing such a large part of their workforce through the Great Migration.

Work Cited

“The Great Migration” http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm;jsessionid=f830449901508869046508?migration=8&bhcp=1