The Great Migration: A Brief History of the Great Migration

The Great Migration was a multi-decade movement in the first half of the twentieth century during which Black Southerners decamped for cities in the North and West United States in search of economic opportunities and freedom from segregation, violence, and Jim Crow laws. Historians trace the start of the Great Migration to a Black exodus from Selma, Alabama, in 1916, which was documented by the Chicago Defender newspaper. Steady Black migration in this pattern continued throughout the mid-twentieth century before petering out around 1970. In all, approximately six million Black Americans moved from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

During the Great Migration, Black people from Southern states like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and North Carolina were largely limited to sharecropping and lived in fear of lynching. In search of better opportunities and freedom from violence, they left the rural South for Northern cities such as New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Some also headed for big cities in the West like Los Angeles and Seattle.

The origins and continuation of the Great Migration stem from several factors.

• Oppression in the American South: Life in the South during the Jim Crow era was brutal for Black Americans. Those living in rural areas frequently toiled as sharecroppers on white farmers' properties. Those in big cities like Atlanta and Birmingham faced racial segregation. Southern Blacks who ran afoul of white people faced the threat of lynching. Many seized the opportunity to flee such extreme oppression.
• The difficulty of rural life: Beyond the constant scourge of racism, many rural Black Americans had grown weary of farm life. Natural disasters like floods and an infestation of boll weevils (a beetle that destroys cotton plants) made agriculture untenable for many. The industrial factories of cities like Detroit in Michigan and Cleveland in Ohio seemed more appealing by comparison.
• Economic opportunities in the North: World War I caused a labor shortage in many northern factories. Thus, the first wave of Black American migrants enjoyed access to industrial jobs that had not been offered to those of past generations. The trend repeated itself during World War II when still more Black Southerners chose to leave their homes for better opportunities.
• Increased dignity in the North and West: While many Black migrants still encountered vile racism and lynchings in Northern cities, they also found supportive communities. Cities like Chicago, Illinois (home of the famous Chicago Defender newspaper geared toward Black American liberation) and New York City (home to the legendary Harlem Renaissance) offered communities that celebrated Blackness and offered dignity and greater opportunities.
• A growing movement for equality: The activism of the Civil Rights Movement changed the prospects for Black people in all parts of the country, but progress came faster in Northern and Western cities. Word spread to Black people in the South that Northern life, while far from perfect, was still an improvement on what the South could offer. The story of Northern Black Americans recruiting new generations of migrants is documented in texts like Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration.

Some of the most consequential figures in Black history lived lives shaped by the Great Migration.

1. 1. Jackie Robinson (1919–1972): The man who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier was born in Georgia but migrated with his family to Los Angeles. He became a star athlete at UCLA and, after a brief stint with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues, joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. His pioneering legacy as the first Black man to enter the Major Leagues since the 1880s and his electrifying performance on the field led to his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
2. 2. Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960): One of the leading writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was born in Alabama and moved to Florida at the age of three. Her most celebrated work, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was written in New York but based upon Hurston's early life in the South.
3. 3. Richard Wright (1908–1960): The acclaimed author of Native Son and Black Boy migrated multiple times. Born in Mississippi, he made stops in Memphis, Chicago, and New York before eventually settling in Paris, France. His move to France came upon concluding that racism (and anti-communism) was so endemic to the United States that he had little choice but to leave.
4. 4. James Earl Jones (1931–present): Born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, Jones moved to Michigan as a child. He studied theater as a pre-med student at University of Michigan and became a renowned actor of both stage and film, winning multiple Emmy and Tony Awards.
5. 5. John Coltrane (1926–1967): John Coltrane's iconic career as a jazz musician was in part made possible by a move from North Carolina to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, he learned his craft as a saxophone player. Years later in New York City, he became one of the most acclaimed instrumentalists and composers in the history of American music.

There’s a lot of information that history textbooks don’t cover, including the ways in which systems of inequality continue to impact everyday life. With the MasterClass Annual Membership, get access to exclusive lessons from Angela Davis, Dr. Cornel West, Jelani Cobb, John McWhorter, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Sherrilyn Ifill to learn about the forces that have influenced race in the United States.