View source for Great Migration (African American)

{{Short description|African-American migration from Southern US between 1916 and 1970}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox historical event
|Event_Name    = Great Migration
|partof        = the [[Nadir of American race relations]]
|Image_Name    = Census 1900 Percent Black.png
|Imagesize     = 300px
|Image_Alt     =
|Image_Caption = United States map of the Black American population from the [[1900 United States census|1900 U.S. census]]
|Thumb_Time    =
|AKA           = Great Northward Migration<br />Black Migration
|Participants  = About 6,000,000 African Americans
|Location      = United States
|Date          = 1910s–1970
|cause         = Poor economic conditions<br />More job opportunities in the North<br/>[[Racial segregation in the United States]]:
* [[Jim Crow economy]]
* [[Jim Crow laws]]
* [[Lynching in the United States]]
|nongregorian  =
|Deaths        =
|Result        = Demographic shifts across the U.S.<br />Improved living conditions for African Americans
|URL           =
}}
{{African American topics collapsible sidebar}}

The '''Great Migration''', sometimes known as the '''Great Northward Migration''' or the '''Black Migration''', was the movement of six million [[African Americans]] out of the rural [[Southern United States]] to the urban [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]], [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]], and [[Western United States|West]] between 1910 and 1970.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/migrations/great-migration|title=The Great Migration (1910–1970)|date=May 20, 2021|access-date=March 21, 2022|archive-date=September 27, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927001728/https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/migrations/great-migration|url-status=live}}</ref> It was substantially caused by poor economic and social conditions due to prevalent [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation and discrimination]] in the Southern states where [[Jim Crow laws]] were upheld.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Great-Migration.pdf|title=The Great Migration|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum|access-date=October 3, 2019|archive-date=July 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190727061259/http://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Great-Migration.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/long-lasting-legacy-great-migration-180960118/|title=The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration|last=Wilkerson|first=Isabel|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=October 3, 2019|archive-date=February 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215000512/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/long-lasting-legacy-great-migration-180960118/|url-status=live}}</ref>  In particular, continued [[Lynching in the United States|lynchings]] motivated a portion of the migrants, as African Americans searched for social reprieve. The historic change brought by the migration was amplified because the migrants, for the most part, moved to the then-largest cities in the United States ([[New York City]], [[Chicago]], [[Detroit]], [[Los Angeles]], [[San Francisco]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Cleveland]], and [[Washington, D.C.]]) at a time when those cities had a central cultural, social, political, and economic influence over the United States; there, African Americans established culturally influential communities of their own.<ref name=Gregory>{{Cite web |last=Gregory |first=James |title=Black Metropolis |url=https://depts.washington.edu/moving1/black_metropolis.shtml |access-date=2021-03-25 |website=America's Great Migrations Projects |publisher=University of Washington |archive-date=August 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814175559/https://depts.washington.edu/moving1/black_metropolis.shtml |url-status=live }} (with excepts from, Gregory, James. ''The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America'', Chapter 4: "Black Metropolis" (University of North Carolina Press, 2005)</ref> According to [[Isabel Wilkerson]],  despite the loss of leaving their homes in the South, and the barriers faced by the migrants in their new homes, the migration was an act of individual and collective [[Agency (philosophy)|agency]], which changed the course of American history, a "declaration of independence" written by their actions.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wilkerson |first=Isabel |date=September 2016 |title=The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/long-lasting-legacy-great-migration-180960118/ |magazine=Smithsonian |language=en |access-date=2021-07-31 |archive-date=February 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215000512/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/long-lasting-legacy-great-migration-180960118/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

From the earliest U.S. population statistics in 1780 until [[1910 United States Census|1910]], more than 90% of the [[Historical racial and ethnic demographics of the United States#Black population as a percentage of the total population by U.S. region and state (1790–2020)|African-American population lived in the American South]],<ref name="Purvis 1999 pp. 128–129">{{cite book|first=Thomas L.|last=Purvis|editor-first=Richard|editor-last=Balkin|title=Colonial America to 1763|year=1999|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|isbn=978-0816025275|pages=[https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128 128–129]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialamericat00purv_0/page/128}}</ref><ref name="Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics">{{cite web|title=Colonial and Pre-Federal Statistics|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|page=1168|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-date=December 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229191314/https://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/CT1970p2-13.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite report |last1=Gibson |first1=Campbell |last2=Jung|first2=Kay |title=Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals by Race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, for the United States, Regions, Divisions, and States|series=Population Division Working Papers|volume=56|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date=September 2002|url=http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/REFERENCE/Hist_Pop_stats.pdf|access-date=August 6, 2016|archive-date=May 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514005030/http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/REFERENCE/Hist_Pop_stats.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> making up the majority of the population in three Southern states, namely Louisiana (until about 1890<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab33.pdf |title=Table 33. Louisiana – Race and Hispanic Origin: 1810 to 1990 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327164251/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab33.pdf |archive-date=2010-03-27}}</ref>), South Carolina (until the 1920s<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab55.pdf |title=Race and Hispanic Origin for States |access-date=2013-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140207234436/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab55.pdf |archive-date=February 7, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>), and Mississippi (until the 1930s<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab39.pdf | title=Table 39. Mississippi – Race and Hispanic Origin: 1800 to 1990 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327164055/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab39.pdf | archive-date=2010-03-27}}</ref>). But by the end of the Great Migration, just over half of the African-American population lived in the South, while a little less than half lived in the North and West.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Second Great Migration|url=http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm;jsessionid=f830444661458729315793?migration=9&bhcp=1 |work=The African American Migration Experience|publisher=[[New York Public Library]] |access-date=January 17, 2017|archive-date=March 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312114233/http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm;jsessionid=f830444661458729315793?migration=9&bhcp=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> Moreover, the African-American population had become highly urbanized. In 1900, only one-fifth of African Americans in the South were living in urban areas.<ref name="The American Negro Reference Book">{{citation|last1=Taeuber|first1=Karl E.|title=The American Negro Reference Book|page=122|year=1966|editor-last=Davis|editor-first=John P.|chapter=The Negro Population in the United States|place=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |publisher=Prentice Hall |last2=Taeuber|first2=Alma F.}}</ref> By 1960, half of the African Americans in the South lived in urban areas,<ref name="The American Negro Reference Book" /> and by 1970, more than 80% of African Americans nationwide lived in cities.<ref>{{citation|title=The Second Great Migration|url=http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm;jsessionid=f830444661458729315793?migration=9&bhcp=1|work=The African American Migration Experience|publisher=[[New York Public Library]]|access-date=March 23, 2016|archive-date=March 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312114233/http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm;jsessionid=f830444661458729315793?migration=9&bhcp=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1991, [[Nicholas Lemann]] wrote:

{{blockquote|The Great Migration was one of the largest and most rapid mass [[internal migration|internal movements]] in history—perhaps the greatest not caused by the immediate threat of execution or starvation. In sheer numbers, it outranks the migration of any other ethnic group—[[Italian Americans|Italians]] or [[Irish Americans|Irish]] or [[American Jews|Jews]] or [[Polish Americans|Poles]]—to the United States. For Black people, the migration meant leaving what had always been their economic and social base in America and finding a new one.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lemann |first=Nicholas |title=The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America |page = 6 |year=1991 |location=New York |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=0394560043}}</ref>}}

Some historians differentiate between a first Great Migration (1910–40), which saw about 1.6 million people move from mostly rural areas in the South to northern industrial cities, and a [[Second Great Migration (African American)|Second Great Migration]] (1940–70), which began after the [[Great Depression]] and brought at least five million people—including many townspeople with urban skills—to the North and West.<ref name="brookings.edu">{{cite web |url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-new-great-migration-black-americans-return-to-the-south-1965-2000/ |first=William H. |last=Frey |title=The New Great Migration: Black Americans' Return to the South, 1965–2000 |publisher=The Brookings Institution |date=May 2004 |pages=1–3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617212732/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2004/5/demographics%20frey/20040524_frey |archive-date=June 17, 2013 |access-date=March 19, 2008}}</ref>

Since the [[Civil rights movement|Civil Rights Movement]], the trend has reversed, with more African Americans moving to the South, albeit far more slowly. Dubbed the [[New Great Migration]], these moves were generally spurred by the economic difficulties of cities in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeastern]] and [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern]] United States, growth of jobs in the "[[New South]]" and its lower [[cost of living]], family and [[kinship]] ties, and lessening discrimination.<ref name=BlacksMovingSouth>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-everywhere-so-why-not-move-south.html|title=Racism Is Everywhere, So Why Not Move South?|first=Reniqua |last=Allen|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 8, 2017|access-date=July 9, 2017|archive-date=July 8, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708232351/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-everywhere-so-why-not-move-south.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Causes ==
[[File:Great migration.jpg|thumb|The Arthur family arrived at Chicago's [[Dearborn Station|Polk Street Depot]] on August 30, 1920, during the Great Migration.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glanton |first=Dahleen |date=July 13, 2020 |title=Returning South: A family revisits a double lynching that forced them to flee to Chicago 100 years ago |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-texas-lynching-anniversary-chicago-family-20200713-ygnumlu6svdk5ek5rdi6zmjeq4-story.html |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=September 22, 2020 |archive-date=September 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917144330/https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-texas-lynching-anniversary-chicago-family-20200713-ygnumlu6svdk5ek5rdi6zmjeq4-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

The primary factors for migration among southern African Americans were segregation, [[indentured servitude]], [[convict leasing]], an increase in the spread of racist ideology, widespread [[lynching]] (nearly 3,500 African Americans were lynched between 1882 and 1968<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html |title=Lynchings: By State and Race, 1882–1968 |access-date=July 26, 2010 |quote=Statistics provided by the Archives at Tuskegee Institute. |publisher=University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629081241/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html |archive-date=June 29, 2010 }}</ref>), and lack of social and economic opportunities in the South. Some factors pulled migrants to the north, such as labor shortages in northern factories brought about by World War I, resulting in thousands of jobs in steel mills, railroads, meatpacking plants, and the automobile industry.<ref name="Pearson Education, Inc">{{cite book|last1=Hine|first1=Darlene|last2=Hine|first2=William|last3=Harrold|first3=Stanley|title=African Americans: A Concise History|date=2012|publisher=Pearson Education, Inc.|location=Boston|isbn=978-0205806270|pages=[https://archive.org/details/africanamericans0000hine_i0f5/page/388 388–389]|edition=4th|url=https://archive.org/details/africanamericans0000hine_i0f5/page/388}}</ref> The pull of jobs in the north was strengthened by the efforts of labor agents sent by northern businessmen to recruit southern workers.<ref name=" Pearson Education, Inc" /> Northern companies offered special incentives to encourage Black workers to relocate, including free transportation and low-cost housing.<ref name=":0" />

During [[World War I]], there was a decline in European immigrants, which slowed the supply of workers for Northern factories. Around 1.2 million European immigrants arrived during 1914 while only 300,000 arrived the next year. The enlistment of workers into the military had also affected the labor supply. This created a wartime opportunity in the North for African Americans, as the Northern industry sought a new labor supply from the South.<ref name=" Arnesen, Eric. 2003 2–11">{{Cite book|last=Arnesen, Eric.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51099552|title=Black protest and the great migration : a brief history with documents|date=2003|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|isbn=0312391293|location=Boston|pages=2–11|oclc=51099552}}</ref>

There were many advantages for Northern jobs compared to Southern jobs including wages that could be double or more. The southern [[sharecropping]] system, an agricultural depression, the widespread infestation of the cotton [[boll weevil]], and flooding also provided motivation for African Americans to move into the Northern Cities. The South's pervasive exclusion of African Americans from political power, their lack of representation, and a dearth of social opportunities - in a culture regulated by [[Jim Crow laws]] - also motivated African Americans to migrate Northward.<ref name=" Arnesen, Eric. 2003 2–11"/>

== First Great Migration (1910–1940) ==
{{Nadir of American race relations|Reactions}}When the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] was signed in 1863, less than 8% of the African-American population lived in the Northeastern or Midwestern United States.<ref name=Migrations>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam008.html|title=Migrations – The African-American Mosaic Exhibition – Exhibitions (Library of Congress)|first=United States Bureau of the|last=Census|date=July 23, 2010|website=www.loc.gov|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-date=August 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831212526/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam008.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This began to change over the next decade to such an extent that a [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] committee ordered an investigation into the causes of the mass migration from the South during the preceding decade, especially to Kansas, where many sought refuge. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/summer/exodus.html|title=Exodus to Kansas|date=August 15, 2016|access-date=August 29, 2017|archive-date=July 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719195427/https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/summer/exodus.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1900, about 90% of Black Americans still lived in Southern states.<ref name=Migrations />

Between 1910 and 1930, the African-American population increased by about 40% in Northern states as a result of the migration, mostly in the major cities. The cities of [[Philadelphia]], [[Detroit]], [[Chicago]], [[Cleveland]], [[History of the African Americans in Baltimore|Baltimore]], and [[New York City]] had some of the biggest increases in the early part of the twentieth century. Tens of thousands of Black workers were recruited for industrial jobs, such as positions related to the expansion of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]. Because changes were concentrated in cities, which had also attracted millions of new or recent European immigrants, tensions rose as the people competed for jobs and scarce housing. Tensions were often most severe between ethnic Irish, defending their recently gained positions and territory, and recent immigrants and Black people.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

=== Tensions and violence ===
With the migration of African Americans northward and the mixing of White and Black workers in factories, the tension was building, largely driven by White workers. The AFL, the [[American Federation of Labor]], advocated the separation between European Americans and African Americans in the workplace. There were non-violent protests such as walk-outs in protest of having Blacks and Whites working together. As tension was building due to advocating for segregation in the workplace, violence soon erupted.<ref name="Arnesen, Eric. 2003 12–15, 29–35">{{Cite book|last=Arnesen, Eric.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51099552|title=Black protest and the great migration : a brief history with documents|date=2003|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|isbn=0312391293|location=Boston|pages=12–15, 29–35|oclc=51099552}}</ref>

In 1917, the [[East St. Louis riot]], known for one of the bloodiest workplace riots, had between 40 and 200 killed and over 6000 African Americans displaced from their homes. The NAACP, [[NAACP|National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]], responded to the violence with a march known as the [[Silent Parade|Silent March]]. More than 10,000 African-American men and women demonstrated in Harlem, New York. Conflicts continued post World War I, as African Americans continued to face conflicts and tension while the African-American labor activism continued.<ref name="Arnesen, Eric. 2003 12–15, 29–35"/>

In the late summer and autumn of 1919, racial tensions became violent and came to be known as the [[Red Summer]]. This period of time was defined by violence and prolonged rioting between Black and White Americans in major United States cities.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Broussard|first=Albert S.|date=Spring 2011|title=New Perspectives on Lynching, Race Riots, and Mob Violence|journal=Journal of American Ethnic History|volume=30|issue=3|pages=71–75|via=EBSCO|doi=10.5406/jamerethnhist.30.3.0071}}</ref> The reasons for this violence vary. Cities that were affected by the violence included [[Washington, D.C.|Washington D.C.]], Chicago, [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], [[Knoxville, Tennessee]], and [[Elaine, Arkansas]], a small rural town {{convert|70|mi|km}} southwest of [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]].<ref name=":02">Chicago Commission on Race Relations. ''The Negro in Chicago: A Study in Race Relations and a Race Riot in 1919''. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1922.</ref>

The race riots peaked in Chicago, with the most violence and death occurring there during the riots.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|title=Chicago Race Riot of 1919|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.|access-date=May 20, 2017|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Chicago-Race-Riot-of-1919}}</ref> The authors of ''The Negro in Chicago; a study of race relations and a race riot'', an official report from 1922 on race relations in Chicago, came to the conclusion that there were many factors that led to the violent outbursts in Chicago. Principally, many Black workers had assumed the jobs of white men who went to go fight in World War I. As the war ended in 1918, many men returned home to find out their jobs had been taken by Black men who were willing to work for far less.<ref name=":02" />

By the time the rioting and violence had subsided in Chicago, 38 people had lost their lives, with 500 more injured. Additionally, $250,000 worth of property was destroyed, and over a thousand persons were left homeless.<ref name="Black Metropolis">{{cite book |last1=Drake |first1=St. Claire |last2=Cayton |first2=Horace R. |title=Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City |date=1945 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Company |location=USA |page=65}}</ref> In other cities across the nation many more had been affected by the violence of the [[Red Summer]]. The Red Summer enlightened many to the growing racial tension in America. The violence in these major cities prefaced the soon to follow [[Harlem Renaissance]], an African-American cultural revolution, in the 1920s.<ref name=":1" /> Racial violence appeared again in [[Airport Homes race riots|Chicago]] in the 1940s and in [[1943 Detroit race riot|Detroit]] as well as other cities in the Northeast as racial tensions over housing and employment discrimination grew.

=== Continued migration ===
{{further|Black land loss in the United States|African-American history of agriculture in the United States|Jim Crow economy}}
James Gregory calculates decade-by-decade migration volumes in his book ''The Southern Diaspora.'' Black migration picked up from the start of the new century, with 204,000 leaving in the first decade. The pace accelerated with the outbreak of [[World War I]] and continued through the 1920s. By 1930, there were 1.3 million former southerners living in other regions.{{r|Gregory 2009|p=22}}

The [[Great Depression]] wiped out job opportunities in the northern industrial belt, especially for African Americans, and caused a sharp reduction in migration. In the 1930s and 1940s, increasing mechanization of agriculture virtually brought the institution of [[sharecropping]] that had existed since the Civil War to an end in the United States causing many landless Black farmers to be forced off of the land.<ref>{{cite web|first=Gordon |last=Marshall|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-sharecro.html |title=Sharecropping|website=Encyclopedia.com|date=1998}}{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317084055/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-sharecro.html |date=March 17, 2009 }}.</ref>

As a result, approximately 1.4 million Black southerners moved north or west in the 1940s, followed by 1.1 million in the 1950s, and another 2.4 million people in the 1960s and early 1970s. By the late 1970s, as deindustrialization and the Rust Belt crisis took hold, the Great Migration came to an end. But, in a reflection of changing economics, as well as the end of [[Jim Crow laws]] in the 1960s and improving race relations in the South, in the 1980s and early 1990s, more Black Americans were heading South than leaving that region.{{r|Gregory 2005|pp=12–17}}

African Americans moved from the 14 states of the South, especially [[Alabama]], [[Mississippi]], [[Louisiana]], [[Texas]], and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].{{r|Gregory 2005|p=12}}

== Second Great Migration (mid 1940s–1970) ==
{{Main|Second Great Migration (African American)}}
The [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s resulted in reduced migration because of decreased opportunities. With the defense buildup for [[World War II]] and with the post-war economic prosperity, migration was revived, with larger numbers of Black Americans leaving the South through the 1960s. This wave of migration often resulted in overcrowding of urban areas due to exclusionary housing policies meant to keep African-American families out of developing suburbs. For example, in the New York and northern New Jersey suburbs 67,000 mortgages were insured by the [[G.I. Bill]], but fewer than 100 were taken out by non-whites.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Katznelson|first1=Ira|title=When affirmative action was white : an untold history of racial inequality in twentieth-century America|date=2006|publisher=W.W. Norton|location=New York|isbn=978-0393328516|edition=[Norton pbk ed.]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw5xzMyzE5AC&q=ewer+than+100+of+the+67%2C000+mortgages+insured+by+the+G.I.+Bill+supported+home+purchases+by+nonwhites&pg=PA140| title=When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America| isbn=9780393347142| last1=Katznelson| first1=Ira| date=2006-08-17| publisher=W. W. Norton & Company| access-date=December 7, 2022| archive-date=November 13, 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231113230522/https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw5xzMyzE5AC&q=ewer+than+100+of+the+67%2C000+mortgages+insured+by+the+G.I.+Bill+supported+home+purchases+by+nonwhites&pg=PA140#v=snippet&q=ewer%20than%20100%20of%20the%2067%2C000%20mortgages%20insured%20by%20the%20G.I.%20Bill%20supported%20home%20purchases%20by%20nonwhites&f=false| url-status=live}}</ref>

==Migration patterns==
{{Multiple images
| image1            = Black Americans 1910 County.png
| caption1          = 1910
| image2            = Black Americans 1970 County.png
| caption2          = 1970
| header            = African American population distribution during the Great Migration
| total_width       = 
}}
Big cities were the principal destinations of southerners throughout the two phases of the Great Migration. In the first phase, eight major cities attracted two-thirds of the migrants: [[New York City|New York]] and [[Chicago]], followed in order by [[Philadelphia]], [[St. Louis]], [[Detroit]], [[Kansas City]], [[Pittsburgh]], and [[Indianapolis]]. The Second great Black migration increased the populations of these cities while adding others as destinations, including the [[Western United States|Western states]]. Western cities such as [[Los Angeles]], [[San Francisco]], [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], [[Denver]], [[Seattle]], and [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] also attracted African Americans in large numbers.{{r|Gregory 2009|p=22}}

There were clear migratory patterns that linked particular states and cities in the South to corresponding destinations in the North and West. Almost half of those who migrated from Mississippi during the first Great Migration, for example, ended up in [[Chicago]], while those from Virginia tended to move to [[Philadelphia]]. For the most part, these patterns were related to geography (i.e. longitude), with the closest cities attracting the most migrants (such as Los Angeles and San Francisco receiving a disproportionate number of migrants from Texas and Louisiana). When multiple destinations were equidistant, [[chain migration]] played a larger role, with migrants following the path set by those before them.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title = The Great Migration: The African American Exodus from The South|first = Dan|last = Kopf|url = http://priceonomics.com/the-great-migration-the-african-american-exodus/|website = Priceonomics|date = January 28, 2016|access-date = February 2, 2016|archive-date = January 31, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160131231231/http://priceonomics.com/the-great-migration-the-african-american-exodus/|url-status = live}}</ref>

African Americans from the South also migrated to industrialized Southern cities, in addition to northward and westward to war-boom cities. There was an increase in Louisville's defense industries, making it a vital part of America's effort into World War II and Louisville's economy. Industries ranged from producing synthetic rubber, smokeless powders, artillery shells, and vehicle parts. Many industries also converted to creating products for the war effort, such as [[Ford Motor Company]] converting its plant to produce military jeeps. The company [[Hillerich & Bradsby]] initially made baseball bats and then converted their production into making gunstocks.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book|last=Adams, Luther.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/682621088|title=Way up north in Louisville : African American migration in the urban South, 1930–1970|date=2010|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0807899434|location=Chapel Hill|pages=24–36|oclc=682621088}}</ref><ref name="Lundberg">{{Cite web|last=Lundberg|first=Terri|date=2014-01-28|title=Black History in Kansas City|url=http://www.blackchickontour.com/black-history-in-kansas-city/|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Black Chick On Tour|language=en-US|archive-date=November 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231113230525/http://www.blackchickontour.com/black-history-in-kansas-city/|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the war, there was a shortage of workers in the defense industry. African Americans took the opportunity to fill in the industries' missing jobs during the war, around 4.3 million intrastate migration and 2.1 million interstate migration in the Southern states. The defense industry in Louisville reached a peak of roughly over 80,000 employment. At first, job availability was not open for African Americans, but the growing need for jobs in the defense industry and the [[Fair Employment Practice Committee|Fair Employment Practices Committee]] sign by [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], the Southern industries began to accept African Americans into the workplace.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="Lundberg"/>

Migration patterns reflected network ties. Black Americans tended to go to locations in the North where other Black Americans had previously migrated. Per a 2021 study, "when one randomly chosen African American moved from a Southern birth town to a destination county, then 1.9 additional Black migrants made the same move on average."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stuart|first1=Bryan A.|last2=Taylor|first2=Evan J.|date=2021|title=Migration Networks and Location Decisions: Evidence from US Mass Migration|url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20180294|journal=[[American Economic Journal: Applied_Economics#American Economic Journal: Applied Economics|American Economic Journal: Applied Economics]]|language=en|volume=13|issue=3|pages=134–175|doi=10.1257/app.20180294|issn=1945-7782|hdl=10419/207533|s2cid=141068688|hdl-access=free|access-date=June 28, 2021|archive-date=December 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210022012/https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20180294|url-status=live}}{{void|comment|Fabrickator|direct links to paper: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20180294 direct archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20221220091335/https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20180294}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Gallery===

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Percentage of African American population living in the American South.png|Graph showing the percentage of the African-American population living in the American South, 1790–2010
File:GreatMigration1910to1970-UrbanPopulation.png|The Great Migration shown by changes in the African-American share of populations of major U.S. cities, 1910–40 and 1940–70
File:Linchamientos.png|Racially motivated murders per decade from 1865 to 1965.
</gallery>

== Cultural changes ==
After moving from the environment of the south to the northern states, African Americans were inspired to be creative in different ways. The Great Migration resulted in the [[Harlem Renaissance]], which was also fueled by immigrants from the Caribbean, and the [[Chicago Black Renaissance]]. In her book ''[[The Warmth of Other Suns]]'', [[Pulitzer Prize]]–winning journalist [[Isabel Wilkerson]] discusses the migration of "six million Black Southerners [moving] out of the terror of [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] to an uncertain existence in the North and Midwest."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-679-44432-9 | title=Review: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration | work=Publishers Weekly | date=September 2010 | access-date=August 16, 2015 | archive-date=October 9, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009213526/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-679-44432-9 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The struggle of African-American migrants to adapt to Northern cities was the subject of [[Jacob Lawrence]]'s ''[[Migration Series]]'' of paintings, created when he was a young man in New York.<ref name=SaylorIntroPDF>{{cite web|last=www.sbctc.edu (adapted)|title=Module 1: Introduction and Definitions|url=http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Module-1.pdf|publisher=Saylor.org|access-date=April 2, 2012|archive-date=October 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001104419/http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Module-1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Exhibited in 1941 at the Museum of Modern Art, Lawrence's ''Series'' attracted wide attention; he was quickly perceived as one of the most important African-American artists of the time.<ref>{{cite news | first=Holland | last=Cotter | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/10/arts/jacob-lawrence-dead-82-vivid-painter-who-chronicled-odyssey-black-americans.html | title=Jacob Lawrence Is Dead at 82; Vivid Painter Who Chronicled Odyssey of Black Americans | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=June 10, 2000 | access-date=June 15, 2018 | archive-date=August 26, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200826025412/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/10/arts/jacob-lawrence-dead-82-vivid-painter-who-chronicled-odyssey-black-americans.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

The Great Migration had effects on music as well as other cultural subjects. Many [[blues]] singers migrated from the [[Mississippi Delta]] to Chicago to escape racial discrimination. [[Muddy Waters]], [[Howlin' Wolf|Chester Burnett]], and [[Buddy Guy]] are among the most well-known blues artists who migrated to Chicago. Great Delta-born pianist [[Eddie Boyd]] told ''[[Living Blues]]'' magazine, "I thought of coming to Chicago where I could get away from some of that racism and where I would have an opportunity to, well, do something with my talent.... It wasn't peaches and cream [in Chicago], man, but it was a hell of a lot better than down there where I was born."<ref>[[David Szatmary|David P. Szatmary]], ''Rockin' in Time'', 8th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2014), p. 8</ref>

== Effects ==

=== Demographic changes ===
The Great Migration drained off much of the rural Black population of the South, and for a time, froze or reduced African-American population growth in parts of the region. The migration changed the demographics in a number of states; there were decades of Black population decline, especially across the Deep South "[[Black Belt in the American South|black belt]]" where cotton had been the main [[cash crop]]{{r|Gregory 2005|p=18}} {{mdash}} but had been devastated by the [[invasive agricultural pest|arrival]] of the [[boll weevil]].<ref name="Jabbar-Obstfeld-2007">{{cite book | last1=Abdul-Jabbar | first1=Kareem | author1-link=Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | last2=Obstfeld | first2=Raymond | author2-link=Raymond Obstfeld | title=On The Shoulders Of Giants : My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | publication-place=New York | year=2007 | isbn=978-1416534884 | oclc=76168045 | pages=1–288 }}</ref> In 1910, African Americans constituted the majority of the population of South Carolina and Mississippi, and more than 40% in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas; by 1970, only in Mississippi did the African-American population constitute more than 30% of the state's total. "The disappearance of the 'black belt' was one of the striking effects" of the Great Migration, James Gregory wrote.{{r|Gregory 2005|p=18}}

In Mississippi, the Black American population decreased from about 56% of the population in 1910 to about 37% by 1970,<ref name=PopRace>Gibson, Campbell and Kay Jung (September 2002). [https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224151538/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html |date=December 24, 2014 }} U.S. Bureau of the Census – Population Division.</ref> remaining the majority only in some [[Mississippi Delta|Delta]] counties. In Georgia, Black Americans decreased from about 45% of the population in 1910 to about 26% by 1970. In South Carolina, the Black population decreased from about 55% of the population in 1910 to about 30% by 1970.<ref name=PopRace />

The growing Black presence outside the South changed the dynamics and demographics of numerous cities in the Northeast, Midwest, and West. In 1900, only 740,000 African Americans lived outside the South, just 8% of the nation's total Black population. By 1970, more than 10.6 million African Americans lived outside the South, 47% of the nation's total.{{r|Gregory 2005|p=18}}

Because the migrants concentrated in the big cities of the north and west, their influence was magnified in those places. Cities that had been virtually all white at the start of the century became centers of Black culture and politics by mid-century. Residential segregation and [[redlining]] led to concentrations of Black people in certain areas. The northern "Black metropolises" developed an important infrastructure of newspapers, businesses, jazz clubs, churches, and political organizations that provided the staging ground for new forms of racial politics and new forms of Black culture.

As a result of the Great Migration, the first large urban Black communities developed in northern cities beyond New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia, which had Black communities even before the Civil War, and attracted migrants after the war. It is conservatively estimated that 400,000 African Americans left the South in 1916 through 1918 to take advantage of a labor shortage in industrial cities during the First World War.<ref name="archives.gov">[http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2015/onewayticket/site/assets/2014/10/03-1024x681.jpg James Gilbertlove, "African Americans and the American Labor Movement"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521200130/http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2015/onewayticket/site/assets/2014/10/03-1024x681.jpg |date=May 21, 2015 }}, ''Prologue'', Summer 1997, Vol. 29.</ref>

In 1910, the African-American population of [[Detroit]] was 6,000. The Great Migration, along with immigrants from [[Southern Europe|southern]] and [[eastern Europe]] as well as their descendants, rapidly turned the city into the country's fourth-largest. By the start of the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] in 1929, the city's African-American population had increased to 120,000.

In 1900–01, Chicago had a total population of 1,754,473.<ref>Gibson, Campbell (June 1998). [https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027.html Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314031958/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027.html |date=March 14, 2007 }}. U.S. Bureau of the Census – Population Division.</ref> By 1920, the city had added more than 1 million residents. During the second wave of the Great Migration (1940–60), the African-American population in the city grew from 278,000 to 813,000.<!--proportion of total?-->
[[File:BLACK YOUTHS PLAY BASKETBALL AT STATEWAY GARDENS' HIGHRISE HOUSING PROJECT ON CHICAGO'S SOUTH SIDE. THE COMPLEX HAS... - NARA - 556162.jpg|thumb|African-American youths play basketball in Chicago's [[Stateway Gardens]] high-rise housing project in 1973.]]

The flow of African Americans to Ohio, particularly to [[Cleveland]], changed the demographics of the state and its primary industrial city. Before the Great Migration, an estimated 1.1% to 1.6% of Cleveland's population was African American.<ref name=GibsonJung>Gibson, Campbell, and Kay Jung. "Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals by Race, 1790 to 1990, and by Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, for Large Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States." U.S. Census Bureau, February 2005.</ref> By 1920, 4.3% of Cleveland's population was African American.<ref name=GibsonJung /> The number of African Americans in Cleveland continued to rise over the next 20 years of the Great Migration.

Other northeastern and midwestern industrial cities, such as Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Omaha, also had dramatic increases in their African-American populations. By the 1920s, New York's [[Harlem]] became a center of Black cultural life, influenced by the American migrants as well as new immigrants from the [[Caribbean]] area.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hutchinson|first=George|date=2020-08-19|title=Harlem Renaissance|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art|url-status=live|access-date=2021-02-19|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|archive-date=November 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117195542/https://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art}}</ref>

Second-tier industrial cities that were destinations for numerous Black migrants were [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], [[Boston]], [[Milwaukee]], [[Minneapolis]], [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]], [[Cincinnati]], [[Grand Rapids, Michigan|Grand Rapids]] and [[Indianapolis]], and smaller industrial cities such as [[Chester, Pennsylvania|Chester]], [[Gary, Indiana|Gary]], [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], [[Erie, Pennsylvania|Erie]], [[Toledo, Ohio|Toledo]], [[Youngstown, Ohio|Youngstown]], [[Peoria, Illinois|Peoria]], [[Muskegon, Michigan|Muskegon]], [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]], [[Flint, Michigan|Flint]], [[Saginaw, Michigan|Saginaw]], [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]], and [[Albany, New York|Albany]]. People tended to take the cheapest rail ticket possible and go to areas where they had relatives and friends.

For example, many people from [[Mississippi]] moved directly north by train to Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis, from [[Alabama]] to Cleveland and Detroit, from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and [[South Carolina]] to [[New York City]], [[Baltimore]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington D.C.]] and [[Philadelphia]], and in the second migration, from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi to [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], [[Denver]], and [[Seattle]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

=== Discrimination and working conditions ===
[[File:Bronxhub1.jpeg|thumb|[[The Hub, Bronx|The Hub]] is the retail heart of the [[South Bronx]], New York City.<ref>[http://www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/about/abrieflookatbronx.html A Brief Look at The Bronx], Bronx Historical Society. Accessed September 23, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807203617/http://www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org/about/abrieflookatbronx.html |date=August 7, 2007 }}</ref>]]

Educated African Americans were better able to obtain jobs after the Great Migration, eventually gaining a measure of [[American middle class|class mobility]], but the migrants encountered significant forms of discrimination. Because so many people migrated in a short period of time, the African-American migrants were often resented by the urban European-American working class (many of whom were recent immigrants themselves); fearing their ability to negotiate rates of pay or secure employment, the ethnic whites felt threatened by the influx of new labor competition. Sometimes those who were most fearful or resentful were the last immigrants of the 19th and new immigrants of the 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=March 2010}}

African Americans made substantial gains in industrial employment, particularly in the steel, automobile, shipbuilding, and meatpacking industries. Between 1910 and 1920, the number of Black workers employed in industry nearly doubled from 500,000 to 901,000.<ref name="archives.gov" /> After the [[Great Depression]], more advances took place after workers in the steel and meatpacking industries organized into [[Labor unions in the United States|labor unions]] in the 1930s and 1940s, under the interracial [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO). The unions ended the segregation of many jobs, and African Americans began to advance into more skilled jobs and supervisory positions previously informally reserved for whites.

Between 1940 and 1960, the number of Black people in managerial and administrative occupations doubled, along with the number of Black people in white-collar occupations, while the number of Black agricultural workers in 1960 fell to one-fourth of what it was in 1940.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Aurelia Toyer|title=The Social and Economic Status of the Black Population in the U.S.: An Historical View, 1790–1978|journal=[[The Review of Black Political Economy]]|volume=10|issue=3|year=1980|pages=314–318|doi=10.1007/bf02689658|s2cid=153619673}}</ref> Also, between 1936 and 1959, Black income relative to white income more than doubled in various skilled trades.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ashenfelter|first=Orley|author-link=Orley Ashenfelter|title=Changes in Labor Market Discrimination Over Time|journal=[[The Journal of Human Resources]]|volume=5|issue=4|pages=403–430|year=1970|doi=10.2307/144999|jstor=144999}}</ref> Despite [[Employment discrimination#United States|employment discrimination]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Thernstrom|first=Stephan|author-link=Stephan Thernstrom|year=1973|title=The Other Bostonians: Poverty and Progress in the American Metropolis, 1880–1970|place=Cambridge, MA|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/otherbostoniansp0000unse/page/201/mode/2up 201]|isbn=978-0674433946|url=https://archive.org/details/otherbostoniansp0000unse/mode/2up}}</ref> Black people had higher [[Unemployment#Labor force participation rate|labor force participation rates]] than whites in every [[United States Census|U.S. Census]] from 1890 to 1950.<ref>{{cite report|title=Historical Statistics of the United States: From Colonial Times to 1957|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]], [[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/1208?start_page=83|year=1960|place=Washington, D.C.|page=72|access-date=September 13, 2018|archive-date=September 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914022331/https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/1208?start_page=83|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result of these advancements, the percentage of Black families living below the poverty line declined from 87% in 1940 to 47% by 1960 and to 30% by 1970.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thernstrom|first1=Stephan|last2=Thernstrom|first2=Abigail|author-link1=Stephan Thernstrom|author-link2=Abigail Thernstrom|title=America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible|place=New York|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=1997|page=232|isbn=978-0684809335}}</ref>

Populations increased so rapidly among both African-American migrants and new European immigrants that there were housing shortages in most major cities. With fewer resources, the newer groups were forced to compete for the oldest, most run-down housing. Ethnic groups created territories which they defended against change. Discrimination often restricted African Americans to crowded neighborhoods. The more established populations of cities tended to move to newer housing as it was developing in the outskirts. [[Mortgage discrimination]] and [[redlining]] in [[inner city]] areas limited the newer African-American migrants' ability to determine their own housing, or obtain a fair price. In the long term, the [[National Housing Act of 1934]] contributed to limiting the availability of loans to urban areas, particularly those areas inhabited by African Americans.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Kevin Fox |last=Gotham |title=Racialization and the State: The Housing Act of 1934 and the Creation of the Federal Housing Administration |journal=Sociological Perspectives |volume=43 |issue=2 |year=2000 |pages=291–317 |jstor=1389798 |doi=10.2307/1389798 |s2cid=144457751 }}</ref>

Migrants going to [[Albany, New York]] found poor living conditions and employment opportunities, but also higher wages and better schools and social services. Local organizations such as the Albany Inter-Racial Council and churches, helped them, but de facto segregation and discrimination remained well into the late 20th century.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lemak | first1 = Jennifer A. | year = 2008 | title = Albany, New York and the Great Migration | journal = Afro-Americans in New York Life and History | volume = 32 | issue = 1| page = 47 }}</ref>

Migrants going to Pittsburgh and surrounding mill towns in western Pennsylvania between 1890 and 1930 faced racial discrimination and limited economic opportunities. The Black population in Pittsburgh jumped from 6,000 in 1880 to 27,000 in 1910.  Many took highly paid, skilled jobs in the steel mills. Pittsburgh's Black population increased to 37,700 in 1920 (6.4% of the total) while the Black element in Homestead, Rankin, Braddock, and others nearly doubled. They succeeded in building effective community responses that enabled the survival of new communities.<ref>Trotter, Joe W., "Reflections on the Great Migration to Western Pennsylvania." ''Western Pennsylvania History'' (1995) 78#4: 153–158 [https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/download/4502/4319 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308161933/https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/download/4502/4319 |date=March 8, 2021 }}.</ref><ref>Trotter, Joe W., and Eric Ledell Smith, eds. ''African Americans in Pennsylvania: Shifting Historical Perspectives'' (Penn State Press, 2010).</ref> Historian Joe Trotter explains the decision process:

<blockquote>Although African-Americans often expressed their views of the Great Migration in biblical terms and received encouragement from northern Black newspapers, railroad companies, and industrial labor agents, they also drew upon family and friendship networks to help in the move to Western Pennsylvania. They formed migration clubs, pooled their money, bought tickets at reduced rates, and often moved ingroups. Before they made the decision to move, they gathered information and debated the pros and cons of the process.... In barbershops, poolrooms, and grocery stores, in churches, lodge halls, and clubhouses, and in private homes, Black people who lived in the South discussed, debated, and decided what was good and what was bad about moving to the urban North.<ref>Trotter, "Reflections on the Great Migration to Western Pennsylvania," p. 154.</ref></blockquote>

=== Integration and segregation ===
[[File:We want white tenants.jpg|thumb|White tenants seeking to prevent Black people from moving into the [[Sojourner Truth Project]] in [[Detroit]] erected this sign, 1942]]

In cities such as Newark, New York and Chicago, African Americans became increasingly integrated into society. As they lived and worked more closely with European Americans, the divide became increasingly indefinite. This period marked the transition for many African Americans from lifestyles as rural farmers to urban industrial workers.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Black exodus : the great migration from the American South|date=1991|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|others=Harrison, Alferdteen|isbn=978-1604738216|location=Jackson|oclc=775352334}}</ref>

This migration gave birth to a cultural boom in cities such as Chicago and New York. In Chicago for instance, the neighborhood of Bronzeville became known as the "Black Metropolis". From 1924 to 1929, the "Black Metropolis" was at the peak of its golden years. Many of the community's entrepreneurs were Black during this period. "The foundation of the first African American YMCA took place in Bronzeville, and worked to help incoming migrants find jobs in the city of Chicago."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trcwabash.org/history.html|title=History|website=The Renaissance Collaborative|access-date=August 19, 2013|archive-date=August 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831033753/http://www.trcwabash.org/history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The "Black Belt" geographical and racial isolation of this community, bordered to the north and east by whites, and to the south and west by industrial sites and ethnic immigrant neighborhoods, made it a site for the study of the development of an urban Black community. For urbanized people, eating proper foods in a sanitary, civilized setting such as the home or a restaurant was a social ritual that indicated one's level of respectability. The people native to Chicago had pride in the high level of integration in Chicago restaurants, which they attributed to their unassailable manners and refined tastes.<ref>Poe, Tracy N. (1999). "The Origins of Soul Food in Black Urban Identity: Chicago, 1915–1947," ''American Studies International.'' XXXVII No. 1 (February)</ref>

Since African-American migrants retained many Southern cultural and linguistic traits, such cultural differences created a sense of "otherness" in terms of their reception by others who were already living in the cities.<ref name="Ruralizing">''[http://austin.zeiderman.googlepages.com/RuralizingtheCitywithimages.pdf 'Ruralizing' the City: Theory, Culture, History, and Power in the Urban Environment]'' {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926063326/http://austin.zeiderman.googlepages.com/RuralizingtheCitywithimages.pdf |date=September 26, 2007 }}</ref> Stereotypes ascribed to Black people during this period and ensuing generations often derived from African-American migrants' rural cultural traditions, which were maintained in stark contrast to the urban environments in which the people resided.<ref name="Ruralizing" />

== White southern reaction ==
The beginning of the Great Migration exposed a paradox in race relations in the American South at that time. Although Black people were treated with extreme hostility and subjected to legal discrimination, the southern economy was deeply dependent on them as an abundant supply of cheap labor, and Black workers were seen as the most critical factor in the economic development of the South. One South Carolina politician summed up the dilemma: "Politically speaking, there are far too many negroes, but from an industrial standpoint there is room for many more."<ref name="Reich">Reich, Steven A.: ''The Great Black Migration: A Historical Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic''</ref>

When the Great Migration started in the 1910s, white southern elites seemed to be unconcerned, and industrialists and cotton planters saw it as a positive, as it was siphoning off surplus industrial and agricultural labor. As the migration picked up, however, southern elites began to panic, fearing that a prolonged Black exodus would bankrupt the South, and newspaper editorials warned of the danger. White employers eventually took notice and began expressing their fears. White southerners soon began trying to stem the flow in order to prevent the hemorrhaging of their labor supply, and some even began attempting to address the poor living standards and racial oppression experienced by Southern Black people in order to induce them to stay.

As a result, southern employers increased their wages to match those on offer in the North, and some individual employers even opposed the worst excesses of Jim Crow laws. When the measures failed to stem the tide, white southerners, in concert with federal officials who feared the rise of [[Black nationalism]], co-operated in attempting to coerce Black people to stay in the South. The Southern Metal Trades Association urged decisive action to stop Black migration, and some employers undertook serious efforts against it.<ref name="Reich" /><ref name="anderson">Anderson, Talmadge and Stewart, James Benjamin: ''Introduction to African American Studies: Transdisciplinary Approaches and Implications''</ref>

The largest southern steel manufacturer refused to cash checks sent to finance Black migration, efforts were made to restrict bus and train access for Black Americans, agents were stationed in northern cities to report on wage levels, unionization, and the rise of Black nationalism, and newspapers were pressured to divert more coverage to negative aspects of Black life in the North. A series of local and federal directives were put into place with the goal of restricting Black mobility, including local vagrancy ordinances, "work or fight" laws demanding all males either be employed or serve in the army, and conscription orders. Intimidation and beatings were also used to terrorize Black people into staying.<ref name="Reich" /><ref name="anderson"/> These intimidation tactics were described by Secretary of Labor [[William Bauchop Wilson|William B. Wilson]] as interfering with "the natural right of workers to move from place to place at their own discretion".<ref>{{Cite book|title=White rage : the unspoken truth of our racial divide|last=Elaine)|first=Anderson, Carol |isbn=978-1632864123|location=New York|oclc=945729575|date = 2016}}</ref>

During the wave of migration that took place in the 1940s, white southerners were less concerned, as mechanization of agriculture in the late 1930s had resulted in another labor surplus so southern planters put up less resistance.<ref name="Reich" />

Black Americans were not the only group to leave the South for Northern industrial opportunities. Large numbers of [[Poor White|poor whites]] from [[Appalachia]] and the [[Upland South]] made the journey to the Midwest and Northeast after World War II, a phenomenon known as the [[Hillbilly Highway]].<ref name="Tabler">{{Cite web|last=Tabler|first=Dave|date=2011-08-16|title=Where the Hillbilly Highway ends|url=https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2011/08/where-hillbilly-highway-ends.html|access-date=2021-04-16|publisher=Appalachian History|language=en-US|archive-date=February 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220233232/https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2011/08/where-hillbilly-highway-ends.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
The Great Migration is a backdrop of the 2013 film ''[[The Butler]]'', as the [[Forest Whitaker]] character Cecil Gaines moves from a plantation in Georgia to become a butler at the White House.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Haygood|first=Wil|title=The Butler: A Witness to History|publisher=37 Ink|year=2013|isbn=978-1476752990}}</ref> The Great Migration also served as part of [[August Wilson]]’s inspiration for ''[[The Piano Lesson]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=August Wilson and The Migration to Pittsburgh|url=https://www.hartfordstage.org/stagenotes/piano-lesson/migration-to-pittsburgh/|first=Fiona|last=Kyle|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Hartford Stage|language=en-US|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813053601/https://www.hartfordstage.org/stagenotes/piano-lesson/migration-to-pittsburgh/|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Statistics ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+African Americans as a Percentage of the Total Population By U.S. Region (1900–1980)<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224151538/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html|url-status=dead|title=Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States|archivedate=December 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name="pitt.edu">{{cite web|url=http://health-equity.pitt.edu/766/1/The_Black_Population_2000.pdf|title=The Black Population: 2000<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=September 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025113913/http://health-equity.pitt.edu/766/1/The_Black_Population_2000.pdf|archive-date=October 25, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="census.gov">{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf|title=The Black Population: 2010<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=December 10, 2017|archive-date=January 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108162929/https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
!Region||1900||1910||1920||1930||1940||1950||1960||1970||1980||Change in the Black Percentage of the Total Population Between 1900 and 1980
|-
| style="background:#9bddff;" |'''{{Flagdeco|United States|size=23px}}&nbsp;United States'''
! style="background:#9bddff;" |11.6%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |10.7%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |9.9%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |9.7%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |9.8%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |10.0%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |10.5%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |11.1%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |11.7%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |+0.1%
|-
| style="background:#9f9;" |'''[[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]'''
! style="background:#9f9;" |1.8%
! style="background:#9f9;" |1.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |2.3%
! style="background:#9f9;" |3.3%
! style="background:#9f9;" |3.8%
! style="background:#9f9;" |5.1%
! style="background:#9f9;" |6.8%
! style="background:#9f9;" |8.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |9.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |+8.1%
|-
| style="background:#9f9;" |'''[[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]'''
! style="background:#9f9;" |1.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |1.8%
! style="background:#9f9;" |2.3%
! style="background:#9f9;" |3.3%
! style="background:#9f9;" |3.5%
! style="background:#9f9;" |5.0%
! style="background:#9f9;" |6.7%
! style="background:#9f9;" |8.1%
! style="background:#9f9;" |9.1%
! style="background:#9f9;" |+7.2%
|-
| style="background:#9f9;" |'''[[Southern United States|South]]'''
! style="background:#9f9;" |32.3%
! style="background:#9f9;" |29.8%
! style="background:#9f9;" |26.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |24.7%
! style="background:#9f9;" |23.8%
! style="background:#9f9;" |21.7%
! style="background:#9f9;" |20.6%
! style="background:#9f9;" |19.1%
! style="background:#9f9;" |18.6%
! style="background:#9f9;" |-13.7%
|-
| style="background:#9f9;" |'''[[Western United States|West]]'''
! style="background:#9f9;" |0.7%
! style="background:#9f9;" |0.7%
! style="background:#9f9;" |0.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |1.0%
! style="background:#9f9;" |1.2%
! style="background:#9f9;" |2.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |3.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |4.9%
! style="background:#9f9;" |5.2%
! style="background:#9f9;" |+4.5%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+African Americans as a Percentage of the Total Population By U.S. State (1900–1980)<ref name="auto" /><ref name="pitt.edu" /><ref name="census.gov" />
|-
!State||[[List of regions of the United States|Region]]||1900||1910||1920||1930||1940||1950||1960||1970||1980||Change in the Black Percentage of the Total Population Between 1900 and 1980
|-
| style="background:#9bddff;" |'''{{Flagdeco|United States|size=23px}}&nbsp;United States'''
! style="background:#9bddff;" |N/A
! style="background:#9bddff;" |11.6%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |10.7%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |9.9%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |9.7%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |9.8%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |10.0%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |10.5%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |11.1%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |11.7%
! style="background:#9bddff;" |+0.1%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Alabama|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Alabama]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!45.2%
!42.5%
!38.4%
!35.7%
!34.7%
!32.0%
!30.0%
!26.2%
!25.6%
!-19.6%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Alaska|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Alaska]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.3%
!0.3%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!
!3.0%
!3.0%
!3.4%
!+3.1%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Arizona|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Arizona]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!1.5%
!1.0%
!2.4%
!2.5%
!3.0%
!3.5%
!3.3%
!3.0%
!2.8%
!+1.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Arkansas|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Arkansas]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!28.0%
!28.1%
!27.0%
!25.8%
!24.8%
!22.3%
!21.8%
!18.3%
!16.3%
!-11.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|California|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[California]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.7%
!0.9%
!1.1%
!1.4%
!1.8%
!4.4%
!5.6%
!7.0%
!7.7%
!+6.0%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Colorado|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Colorado]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!1.6%
!1.4%
!1.2%
!1.1%
!1.1%
!1.5%
!2.3%
!3.0%
!3.5%
!+1.9%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Connecticut|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Connecticut]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!1.7%
!1.4%
!1.5%
!1.8%
!1.9%
!2.7%
!4.2%
!6.0%
!7.0%
!+6.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Delaware|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Delaware]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!16.6%
!15.4%
!13.6%
!13.7%
!13.5%
!13.7%
!13.6%
!14.3%
!16.1%
!-0.5%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|District of Columbia|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!31.1%
!28.5%
!25.1%
!27.1%
!28.2%
!35.0%
!53.9%
!71.1%
!70.3%
!+38.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Florida|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Florida]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!43.7%
!41.0%
!34.0%
!29.4%
!27.1%
!21.8%
!17.8%
!15.3%
!13.8%
!-29.9%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Georgia (U.S. state)|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!46.7%
!45.1%
!41.7%
!36.8%
!34.7%
!30.9%
!28.5%
!25.9%
!26.8%
!-16.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Hawaii|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Hawaii]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.2%
!0.4%
!0.1%
!0.2%
!0.1%
!0.5%
!0.8%
!1.0%
!1.8%
!+1.6%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Idaho|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Idaho]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.1%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.3%
!0.3%
!+0.1%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Illinois|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Illinois]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!1.8%
!1.9%
!2.8%
!4.3%
!4.9%
!7.4%
!10.3%
!12.8%
!14.7%
!+12.9%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Indiana|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Indiana]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!2.3%
!2.2%
!2.8%
!3.5%
!3.6%
!4.4%
!5.8%
!6.9%
!7.6%
!+5.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Iowa|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Iowa]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!0.6%
!0.7%
!0.8%
!0.7%
!0.7%
!0.8%
!0.9%
!1.2%
!1.4%
!+1.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Kansas|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Kansas]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!3.5%
!3.2%
!3.3%
!3.5%
!3.6%
!3.8%
!4.2%
!4.8%
!5.3%
!+1.8%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Kentucky|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Kentucky]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!13.3%
!11.4%
!9.8%
!8.6%
!7.5%
!6.9%
!7.1%
!7.2%
!7.1%
!-6.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Louisiana|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Louisiana]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!47.1%
!43.1%
!38.9%
!36.9%
!35.9%
!32.9%
!31.9%
!29.8%
!29.4%
!-17.7%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Maine|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Maine]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.1%
!0.2%
!0.1%
!0.3%
!0.3%
!0.3%
!+0.1%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Maryland|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Maryland]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!19.8%
!17.9%
!16.9%
!16.9%
!16.6%
!16.5%
!16.7%
!17.8%
!22.7%
!+1.9%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Massachusetts|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Massachusetts]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!1.1%
!1.1%
!1.2%
!1.2%
!1.3%
!1.6%
!2.2%
!3.1%
!3.9%
!+2.8%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Michigan|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Michigan]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!0.7%
!0.6%
!1.6%
!3.5%
!4.0%
!6.9%
!9.2%
!11.2%
!12.9%
!+12.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Minnesota|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Minnesota]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!0.3%
!0.3%
!0.4%
!0.4%
!0.4%
!0.5%
!0.7%
!0.9%
!1.3%
!+1.0%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Mississippi|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Mississippi]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!58.5%
!56.2%
!52.2%
!50.2%
!49.2%
!45.3%
!42.0%
!36.8%
!35.2%
!-23.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Missouri|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Missouri]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!5.2%
!4.8%
!5.2%
!6.2%
!6.5%
!7.5%
!9.0%
!10.3%
!10.5%
!+5.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Montana|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Montana]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.6%
!0.2%
!0.3%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.3%
!0.2%
!-0.4%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Nebraska|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Nebraska]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!0.6%
!0.6%
!1.0%
!1.0%
!1.1%
!1.5%
!2.1%
!2.7%
!3.1%
!+2.5%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Nevada|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Nevada]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.3%
!0.6%
!0.4%
!0.6%
!0.6%
!2.7%
!4.7%
!5.7%
!6.4%
!+6.1%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|New Hampshire|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[New Hampshire]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!0.2%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.2%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.3%
!0.3%
!0.4%
!+0.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|New Jersey|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[New Jersey]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!3.7%
!3.5%
!3.7%
!5.2%
!5.5%
!6.6%
!8.5%
!10.7%
!12.6%
!+9.9%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|New Mexico|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[New Mexico]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.8%
!0.5%
!1.6%
!0.7%
!0.9%
!1.2%
!1.8%
!1.9%
!1.8%
!+1.0%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|New York|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[New York (state)|New York]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!1.4%
!1.5%
!1.9%
!3.3%
!4.2%
!6.2%
!8.4%
!11.9%
!13.7%
!+12.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|North Carolina|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[North Carolina]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!33.0%
!31.6%
!29.8%
!29.0%
!27.5%
!25.8%
!24.5%
!22.2%
!22.4%
!-10.6%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|North Dakota|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[North Dakota]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.0%
!0.0%
!0.1%
!0.4%
!0.4%
!+0.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Ohio|size=25px}}&nbsp;[[Ohio]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!2.3%
!2.3%
!3.2%
!4.7%
!4.9%
!6.5%
!8.1%
!9.1%
!10.0%
!+7.7%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Oklahoma|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Oklahoma]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!7.0%
!8.3%
!7.4%
!7.2%
!7.2%
!6.5%
!6.6%
!6.7%
!6.8%
!-0.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Oregon|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Oregon]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.3%
!0.2%
!0.3%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.8%
!1.0%
!1.3%
!1.4%
!+1.1%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Pennsylvania|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Pennsylvania]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!2.5%
!2.5%
!3.3%
!4.5%
!4.7%
!6.1%
!7.5%
!8.6%
!8.8%
!+6.3%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Rhode Island|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Rhode Island]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!2.1%
!1.8%
!1.7%
!1.4%
!1.5%
!1.8%
!2.1%
!2.7%
!2.9%
!+0.8%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|South Carolina|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[South Carolina]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!58.4%
!55.2%
!51.4%
!45.6%
!42.9%
!38.8%
!34.8%
!30.5%
!30.4%
!-28.0%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|South Dakota|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[South Dakota]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.3%
!+0.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Tennessee|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Tennessee]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!23.8%
!21.7%
!19.3%
!18.3%
!17.4%
!16.1%
!16.5%
!15.8%
!15.8%
!-8.0%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Texas|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Texas]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!20.4%
!17.7%
!15.9%
!14.7%
!14.4%
!12.7%
!12.4%
!12.5%
!12.0%
!-8.0%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Utah|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Utah]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.2%
!0.3%
!0.3%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.4%
!0.5%
!0.6%
!0.6%
!+0.4%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Vermont|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Vermont]]
![[Northeastern United States|Northeast]]
!0.2%
!0.5%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.2%
!0.2%
!+0.0%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Virginia|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Virginia]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!35.6%
!32.6%
!29.9%
!26.8%
!24.7%
!22.1%
!20.6%
!18.5%
!18.9%
!-16.7%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Washington|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Washington (state)|Washington]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!0.5%
!0.5%
!0.5%
!0.4%
!0.4%
!1.3%
!1.7%
!2.1%
!2.6%
!+2.1%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|West Virginia|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[West Virginia]]
![[Southern United States|South]]
!4.5%
!5.3%
!5.9%
!6.6%
!6.2%
!5.7%
!4.8%
!3.9%
!3.3%
!-1.2%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Wisconsin|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Wisconsin]]
![[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]
!0.1%
!0.1%
!0.2%
!0.4%
!0.4%
!0.8%
!1.9%
!2.9%
!3.9%
!+3.8%
|-
|{{Flagdeco|Wyoming|size=23px}}&nbsp;[[Wyoming]]
![[Western United States|West]]
!1.0%
!1.5%
!0.7%
!0.6%
!0.4%
!0.9%
!0.7%
!0.8%
!0.7%
!-0.3%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+African Americans as a Percentage of the Population By Large U.S. Cities (Those With a Peak Population of 500,000 or More by 1990) Outside of the Former [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html|url-status=dead|title=Population Division Working Paper – Historical Census Statistics On Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990 – U.S. Census Bureau<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=August 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/twps0027.html|title=Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places In The United States: 1790 to 1990|first=Population Division, Laura K.|last=Yax|website=www.census.gov|access-date=December 10, 2017|archive-date=January 2, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102182532/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0027/twps0027.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
!City||1900||1910||1920||1930||1940||1950||1960||1970||1980||1990||Change in the Black Percentage of the Total Population Between 1900 and 1990
|-
|[[Phoenix, Arizona]]
| 2.7%
| 2.9%
| 3.7%
| 4.9%
| 6.5%
| 4.9%
| 4.8%
| 4.8%
| 4.8%
| 5.2%
|  +2.5%
|-
|[[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
| 2.1%
| 2.4%
| 2.7%
| 3.1%
| 4.2%
| 8.7%
| 13.5%
| 17.9%
| 17.0%
| 14.0%
|  +11.9%
|-
|[[San Diego]], [[California]]
| 1.8%
| 1.5%
| 1.3%
| 1.8%
| 2.0%
| 4.5%
| 6.0%
| 7.6%
| 8.9%
| 9.4%
|  +7.6%
|-
|[[San Francisco]], [[California]]
| 0.5%
| 0.4%
| 0.5%
| 0.6%
| 0.8%
| 5.6%
| 10.0%
| 13.4%
| 12.7%
| 10.9%
|  +10.4%
|-
|[[San Jose, California|San Jose]], [[California]]
| 1.0%
| 0.6%
| 0.5%
| 0.4%
| 0.4%
| 0.6%
| 1.0%
| 2.5%
| 4.6%
| 4.7%
|  +3.7%
|-
|[[Denver]], [[Colorado]]
| 2.9%
| 2.5%
| 2.4%
| 2.5%
| 2.4%
| 3.6%
| 6.1%
| 9.1%
| 12.0%
| 12.8%
|  +9.9%
|-
|[[Washington, D.C.|Washington, District of Columbia]]
| 31.1%
| 28.5%
| 25.1%
| 27.1%
| 28.2%
| 35.0%
| 53.9%
| 71.1%
| 70.3%
| 65.8%
|  +34.7%
|-
|[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]
| 1.8%
| 2.0%
| 4.1%
| 6.9%
| 8.2%
| 13.6%
| 22.9%
| 32.7%
| 39.8%
| 39.1%
|  +37.3%
|-
|[[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]]
| 9.4%
| 9.3%
| 11.0%
| 12.1%
| 13.2%
| 15.0%
| 20.6%
| 18.0%
| 21.8%
| 22.6%
|  +13.2%
|-
|[[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]
| 15.6%
| 15.2%
| 14.8%
| 17.7%
| 19.3%
| 23.7%
| 34.7%
| 46.4%
| 54.8%
| 59.2%
|  +43.6%
|-
|[[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]]
| 2.1%
| 2.0%
| 2.2%
| 2.6%
| 3.1%
| 5.0%
| 9.1%
| 16.3%
| 22.4%
| 25.6%
|  +23.5%
|-
|[[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]
| 1.4%
| 1.2%
| 4.1%
| 7.7%
| 9.2%
| 16.2%
| 28.9%
| 43.7%
| 63.1%
| 75.7%
|  +74.3%
|-
|[[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]]
| 0.8%
| 0.9%
| 1.0%
| 0.9%
| 0.9%
| 1.3%
| 2.4%
| 4.4%
| 7.7%
| 13.0%
|  +12.2%
|-
|[[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]]
| 10.7%
| 9.5%
| 9.5%
| 9.6%
| 10.4%
| 12.2%
| 17.5%
| 22.1%
| 27.4%
| 29.6%
|  +18.9%
|-
|[[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]]
| 6.2%
| 6.4%
| 9.0%
| 11.4%
| 13.3%
| 17.9%
| 28.6%
| 40.9%
| 45.6%
| 47.5%
|  +41.3%
|-
|[[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| 0.5%
| 0.4%
| 0.9%
| 2.4%
| 3.1%
| 6.3%
| 13.3%
| 20.4%
| 26.6%
| 30.7%
|  +30.2%
|-
|[[New York City|New York]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| 1.8%
| 1.9%
| 2.7%
| 4.7%
| 6.1%
| 9.5%
| 14.0%
| 21.1%
| 25.2%
| 28.7%
|  +26.9%
|-
|[[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]]
| 4.4%
| 5.4%
| 7.5%
| 10.6%
| 12.2%
| 15.5%
| 21.6%
| 27.6%
| 33.8%
| 37.9%
|  +33.5%
|-
|[[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]]
| 1.6%
| 1.5%
| 4.3%
| 8.0%
| 9.6%
| 16.2%
| 28.6%
| 38.3%
| 43.8%
| 46.6%
|  +45.0%
|-
|[[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]], [[Ohio]]
| 6.5%
| 7.0%
| 9.4%
| 11.3%
| 11.7%
| 12.4%
| 16.4%
| 18.5%
| 22.1%
| 22.6%
|  +16.1%
|-
|[[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]
| 4.8%
| 5.5%
| 7.4%
| 11.3%
| 13.0%
| 18.2%
| 26.4%
| 33.6%
| 37.8%
| 39.9%
|  +35.1%
|-
|[[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]]
| 5.3%
| 4.8%
| 6.4%
| 8.2%
| 9.3%
| 12.2%
| 16.7%
| 20.2%
| 24.0%
| 25.8%
|  +20.5%
|-
|[[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]]
| 0.5%
| 1.0%
| 0.9%
| 0.9%
| 1.0%
| 3.4%
| 4.8%
| 7.1%
| 9.5%
| 10.1%
|  +9.6%
|-
|[[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]]
| 0.3%
| 0.3%
| 0.5%
| 1.3%
| 1.5%
| 3.4%
| 8.4%
| 14.7%
| 23.1%
| 30.5%
|  +30.2%
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+African Americans as a Percentage of the Population By Large U.S. Cities (Those With a Peak Population of 500,000 or More by 1990) Inside the Former [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]<ref name="autogenerated1" /><ref name="autogenerated2" />
|-
!City||1900||1910||1920||1930||1940||1950||1960||1970||1980||1990||Change in the Black Percentage of the Total Population Between 1900 and 1990
|-
|[[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], [[Florida]]
| 57.1%
| 50.8%
| 45.3%
| 37.2%
| 35.7%
| 35.4%
| 41.1%
| 22.3%
| 25.4%
| 25.2%
|  -31.9%
|-
|[[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]
| 27.1%
| 26.3%
| 26.1%
| 28.3%
| 30.1%
| 31.9%
| 37.2%
| 45.0%
| 55.3%
| 61.9%
|  +34.8%
|-
|[[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]
| 48.8%
| 40.0%
| 37.7%
| 38.1%
| 41.5%
| 37.2%
| 37.0%
| 38.9%
| 47.6%
| 54.8%
|  +6.0%
|-
|[[Dallas]], [[Texas]]
| 21.2%
| 19.6%
| 15.1%
| 14.9%
| 17.1%
| 13.1%
| 19.0%
| 24.9%
| 29.4%
| 29.5%
|  +8.3%
|-
|[[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]], [[Texas]]
| 2.9%
| 3.7%
| 1.7%
| 1.8%
| 2.3%
| 2.4%
| 2.1%
| 2.3%
| 3.2%
| 3.4%
|  +0.5%
|-
|[[Houston]], [[Texas]]
| 32.7%
| 30.4%
| 24.6%
| 21.7%
| 22.4%
| 20.9%
| 22.9%
| 25.7%
| 27.6%
| 28.1%
|  -4.6%
|-
|[[San Antonio]], [[Texas]]
| 14.1%
| 11.1%
| 8.9%
| 7.8%
| 7.6%
| 7.0%
| 7.1%
| 7.6%
| 7.3%
| 7.0%
|  -7.1%
|-
|}

<gallery mode="packed" widths="250px" heights="250px">
File:Black % by U.S. state 1900.svg|A map of the black percentage of the U.S. population by each state/territory in 1900.<br />Black = 35.0+%<br />Brown = 20.0–34.9%<br />Red = 10.0–19.9%<br />Orange = 5.0–9.9%<br />Light orange = 1.0–4.9%<br />Gray = 0.9% or less<br />Magenta = No data available
File:Black % by U.S. state 1990.svg|A map of the black percentage of the U.S. population by each state/territory in 1990.<br />Black = 35.0+%<br />Brown = 20.0–34.9%<br />Red = 10.0–19.9%<br />Orange = 5.0–9.9%<br />Light orange = 1.0–4.9%<br />Gray = 0.9% or less<br />Pink = No data available
File:Black population % change by U.S. state 1900 1990.svg|A map showing the change in the total Black population (in percent) between 1900 and 1990 by U.S. state.<br />Light purple = Population decline<br />Very light green = Population growth of 0.1–9.9%<br />Light green = Population growth of 10.0–99.9%<br />Green = Population growth of 100.0–999.9%<br />Dark green = Population growth of 1,000.0–9,999.9%<br />Very dark green (or Black) = Population growth of 10,000.0% or more<br />Gray = No data available
</gallery>

==New Great Migration==
{{Main|New Great Migration}}
After the political and civil gains of the [[Civil rights movement|Civil Rights Movement]], in the 1970s, migration began to increase again. It moved in a different direction, as [[Black people]] who were searching for economic opportunity traveled to new regions of the South.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frey|first=William|title=Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0815726494}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Toppo|first1=Greg|last2=Overberg|first2=Paul|date=March 18, 2015|title=After nearly 100 years, Great Migration begins reversal|work=USA Today|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/02/census-great-migration-reversal/21818127/|url-status=live|access-date=February 19, 2021|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216191513/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/02/census-great-migration-reversal/21818127/}}</ref>

The New Great Migration is not evenly distributed throughout the South. As with the earlier Great Migration, the New Great Migration is primarily directed toward cities and large urban areas, such as [[Atlanta]], [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[Houston]], [[Dallas]], [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]], [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], [[Virginia Beach, Virginia|Virginia Beach]],  [[San Antonio]], [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], and so forth. North Carolina's [[Charlotte metropolitan area|Charlotte metro]] area in particular, is a hot spot for African-American migrants in the US. Between 1975 and 1980, [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] saw a net gain of 2,725 African Americans in the area. This number continued to rise as between 1985 and 1990 as the area had a net gain of 7,497 African Americans, and from 1995 to 2000 the net gain was 23,313 African Americans. This rise in net gain points to Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Houston being a growing hot spots for the migrants of The New Great Migration. The percentage of Black Americans who live in the South has been increasing since 1990, and the biggest gains have been in the region's large urban areas, according to census data. The Black population of metro Atlanta more than doubled between 1990 and 2020, surpassing 2 million in the most recent census. The Black population also more than doubled in metro Charlotte while Greater Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth both saw their Black populations surpass 1 million for the first time. Several smaller metro areas also saw sizable gains, including San Antonio;<ref name="expressnews.com">{{Cite news|date=2021-08-13|title=Latinos, Blacks Show Strong Growth in San Antonio as White Population Declines|newspaper=San Antonio Express-News |url=https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Latinos-Black-communities-grow-in-San-Antonio-16385595.php|access-date=November 12, 2023|archive-date=March 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301110840/https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Latinos-Black-communities-grow-in-San-Antonio-16385595.php|url-status=live |last1=O'Hare |first1=By Peggy }}</ref> Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C.; and Orlando.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Felton |first1=Emmanuel |last2=Harden |first2=John D. |last3=Schaul |first3=Kevin |title=Still looking for a 'Black mecca,' the new Great Migration |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/14/black-migration-south/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=November 14, 2023 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=January 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223173307/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/14/black-migration-south/ |archive-date=2022-12-23}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Primary destinations are states that have the most job opportunities, especially [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[North Carolina]], [[Maryland]], [[Virginia]], [[Tennessee]], [[Florida]] and [[Texas]]. Other southern states, including [[Mississippi]], [[Louisiana]], [[South Carolina]], [[Alabama]] and [[Arkansas]], have seen little net growth in the African-American population from return migration.{{cn|date=August 2020}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|United States|History}}
* [[1912 racial conflict in Forsyth County, Georgia]]
* [[Back-to-Africa movement]]
* [[Block settlement#African American|African-American settlements in Western Canada]]
* [[African diaspora]]
* [[Exodusters]]
* [[Black homesteaders]]
* [[Go Tell It on the Mountain (novel)|''Go Tell It on the Mountain'' (novel)]]
* [[Hillbilly Highway]]
* [[Historical racial and ethnic demographics of the United States]]
* ''[[Living for the City]]''
* [[Nativism in United States politics]]
* [[Race and ethnicity in the United States]]
* [[Racism against African Americans]]
* [[Racism in the United States]]
* [[Urban Appalachians]]
* [[White backlash]]
* [[White flight]]
* [[Xenophobia in the United States]]

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Gregory 2005">{{cite book |last=Gregory |first= James N. |title=The Southern Diaspora: How the Great Migrations of Black and White Southerners Transformed America |location=Chapel Hill |year=2005 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0807856512}}</ref><ref name="Gregory 2009">Gregory, James N. (2009) "The Second Great Migration: An Historical Overview", ''African American Urban History: The Dynamics of Race, Class, and Gender since World War II'', eds. Joe W. Trotter Jr. and Kenneth L. Kusmer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press</ref>

}}

== Further reading ==
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/science/african-american-dna.html Carl Zimmer, "Tales of African-American History Found in DNA"], ''The New York Times'', May 27, 2016
* {{cite book |last=Arnesen |first=Eric |title=Black Protest and the Great Migration: A Brief History with Documents |year=2002 |location=Bedford |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0312391293}}
* Baldwin, Davarian L. ''Chicago's New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, & Black Urban Life'' (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2007)
* Collins, William J. (November 13, 2020). "[[doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2020.101382|The Great Migration of Black Americans from the US South: A Guide and Interpretation]]". ''Explorations in Economic History''
* DeSantis, Alan D. "Selling the American dream myth to black southerners: The Chicago Defender and the Great Migration of 1915–1919." ''Western Journal of Communication'' (1998) 62#4 pp: 474–511. [http://www.uky.edu/~addesa01/documents/SellingtheAmericanDreamMyth.pdf online]
* {{cite book |last=Dove |first=Rita |author-link=Rita Dove |title=Thomas and Beulah |year=1986 |publisher=Carnegie Mellon University Press |isbn=0887480217|title-link=Thomas and Beulah }}
* {{cite book |last=Grossman |first=James R. |title=Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration |year=1991 |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0226309959 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/landofhope00jame }}
* Holley, Donald. ''The Second Great Emancipation: The Mechanical Cotton Picker, Black Migration, and How They Shaped the Modern South'' (University of Arkansas Press, 2000)
* {{cite book |last=Lemann |first=Nicholas |title=The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America |year=1991 |publisher=Vintage Press |isbn=0679733477}}
* Marks, Carole. ''Farewell – We're Good and Gone: the great Black migration'' (Indiana Univ Press, 1989)
* Reich, Steven A. ed. ''The Great Black Migration: A Historical Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic'' (2014), one-volume abridged version of 2006 three volume set; Topical entries plus primary sources
* Rodgers, Lawrence Richard. ''Canaan Bound: The African-American Great Migration Novel'' (University of Illinois Press, 1997)
* {{cite book |last=Sernett |first=Milton |author-link=Milton Sernett |title=Bound for the Promised Land: African Americans' Religion and the Great Migration |year=1997 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=0822319934}}
* {{cite book |last=Scott |first=Emmett J. |title=Negro Migration during the War |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924014026326 |year=1920}}
* {{cite book |last=Sugrue |first=Thomas J. |title=Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North |year=2008 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0812970388 }}
* Tolnay, Stewart E. "The African American 'Great Migration' and Beyond". ''Annual Review of Sociology'' (2003): 209–232. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30036966 in JSTOR]
* Tolnay, Stewart E. "The great migration and changes in the northern black family, 1940 to 1990." ''Social Forces'' (1997) 75#4 pp: 1213–1238.
* Trotter, Joe William, ed. ''The Great Migration in historical perspective: New dimensions of race, class, and gender'' (Indiana University Press, 1991)
* {{cite book |last=Wilkerson |first=Isabel |author-link=Isabel Wilkerson |title=The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration |year=2010 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0679604075 |oclc=741763572|title-link=The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration }}

== External links ==
* {{Cite web |url=https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-great-migration |title=The Great Migration |website=Digital Public Library of America |access-date=January 2, 2019}}
* [http://www.inmotionaame.org/home.cfm Schomburg Center's In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226154419/http://www.inmotionaame.org/home.cfm |date=February 26, 2011 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190727222432/http://www.upfromthebottoms.com/ ''Up from the Bottoms: The Search for the American Dream''], (DVD on the Great Migration)
* [[George King (filmmaker)|George King]], [http://www.southernspaces.org/2010/goin-chicago-and-african-american-great-migrations "Goin' to Chicago and African American 'Great Migrations'"], ''Southern Spaces'', December 2, 2010.
* [http://goinnorth.org/ West Chester University, ''Goin' North: Stories from the First Great Migration to Philadelphia.'']
* Story about the migration in the [[1950 in radio|1950]] [[radio drama]] [https://archive.org/details/DestinationFreedom/DF_50-01-15_ep075-The_Birth_of_a_League.mp3 "The Birth of a League"], in ''[[Destination Freedom]]'', written by [[Richard Durham]]

{{African American topics}}
{{Demographics of the United States}}
{{US history}}
{{Florida}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:20th century in the United States]]
[[Category:African-American demographics]]
[[Category:African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement]]
[[Category:African-American refugees]]
[[Category:History of the Midwestern United States]]
[[Category:History of the Southern United States]]
[[Category:Internal migrations in the United States]]
[[Category:Northeastern United States]]
[[Category:Western United States]]