Published in:Salem Press Primary Encyclopedia, 2023,Topic Overviews K-5
By:Weber, Amy
During the Great Migration in American history, over six million of people moved within the United States. Most of the people who migrated were African Americans. They left the South and moved to the North and West in search of better jobs and a better quality of life. Much of this movement happened in the first half of the twentieth century.
Sharecropping
Many African Americans in the South were sharecroppers. In sharecropping farmers do not own the land that they farm and they give some of their harvest to the land owner. Many sharecropping situations were unfair to black farmers. To add to the trouble, an insect called the boll weevil had hurt much of the cotton crop in the South in the early 1900s. The failure of the cotton crop pushed many sharecroppers further into poverty. The insect caused out-of-work African Americans to head north.
Discrimination
Job opportunities were not the only reasons that people moved. Some left because of racial discrimination. The Ku Klux Klan grew stronger and larger in the 1920s. The number of attacks on African Americans increased. Living in poverty in the South was hard enough for many African Americans. Facing unfair and harsh treatment because of their race made it even harder. Leaving the South allowed them to escape this harsh treatment.
Education
Discrimination was also widespread in education. The South did not provide good schools for many African Americans. Black and white students were separated from one another. They did not receive equal educations. African Americans often had no school supplies. Sometimes, the supplies they did have were not very good. Other resources were scarce. There were not enough teachers. The North offered more school choices.
Conclusion
In the early 1900's more than six million African Americans moved from farms in the American South to cities in the North and West. They moved for better jobs, better education, and more opportunities. Some moved to escape discrimination and racism. Northern cities became important centers of black life and culture.
Books
Greenfield, Eloise. The Great Migration: Journey to the North. Amistad, 2010.
Sonneborn, Liz. The Great Black Migrations: From the Rural South to the Urban North. Chelsea House, 2010.
Websites
Crew, Spencer R. "The Great Migration." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, n.d., www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Great‗Migration‗The#start‗entry.
"Great Migration." Compton's by Britannica. Britannica Online for Kids. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2017, http://kids.britannica.com.wv-o-ursus-proxy11.ursus.maine.edu/comptons/article-9603604/Great-Migration.
"Sharecropping Migration." American Experience. WGBH, n.d., www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/flood-sharecroppers/.
© 2017 by Salem Press, Inc., A Division of EBSCO Information Services, Inc.
Cite this page: Weber, A. (2023). Great Migration. Salem Press Primary Encyclopedia.