The Great Migration

The Great Migration, 1910-40

• 1910—89% of all African-American remained in the South, most in rural areas

• 1940—23% of blacks in U.S. were living in the North and West, most in cities.

Causes of the Great Migration

• Economic depression in the South– Boll weevil, floods

• Economic boom in the Northern cities– World War I, Labor shortages

• Discrimination/violence in South• Chicago Defender

Tensions in the Northern Cities

• Northern migrants found better wages, the freedom to vote, less exposure to white violence, and often better schools

• They also found discriminatory real-estate practices, exclusion from labor unions, and de facto segregation– Rise of the urban ghetto

Effect of Great Migration on the South

• Southern states, which relied on black labor, tried to stop the population flow

• Several states passed laws fining and jailing "vagrant" or "landless" blacks—that is, blacks who were traveling.

• Fined and jailed labor recruiters and those who encouraged blacks to move north.

• Chicago Defender banned in some states• Blacks were often pulled off trains heading north

World War I

• 1917, U.S. enters world war “to make the world safe for democracy”

• DuBois advised blacks to “close ranks,” put differences aside, and go to war

• 200,000 African-Americans served in U.S. Armed Forces in WWI, in a segregated army

• N.A.A.C.P. successfully agitated for the development of all-black officer corps– Most black officers were physicians or chaplains

The 369th Infantry, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters, march up Fifth Avenue in New York, 1919

Race Riots

• Competition for jobs, housing, and recreational facilities in Northern cities increased with the end of World War I– Job discrimination, police brutality contributed to

tensions• Numerous race riots in U.S., 1917-21

– East St. Louis, Ill., 1917– Chicago, 1919– Elaine, Ark., 1919– Tulsa, Okla., 1921

Chicago Riot, 1919

The New Militancy:Black Leadership in the 1920s

• New, more militant black leadership emerges in the 1920s

• Inspired by war service, continued violence, and northern freedoms

• Claude McKay, “If We Must Die”• DuBois becomes more militant after 1919,

less willing to work through justice system

Marcus Garvey

• Fostered Black Nationalist movement

• Advocated racial pride and self-help

• Celebrated black culture and African heritage

United Negro Improvement Association (U.N.I.A.)

• Founded by Garvey in Jamaica in 1914• Established first Liberty Hall in New York

in 1918; soon opened in many U.S. cities– Served as community centers

• Provided burial insurance for members• Ran business enterprises

– Promote a black-run economy– Published Negro World newspaper

Back to Africa Movement

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