Urban migration (jan 1, 1895 – jan 1, 1920)

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The Great Migration refers to the internal migration of African Americans from the South into Northern cities in the early 20th century. The key motivations for the migration were the worsening discrimination in the South, the destruction of cotton crops caused by swarms of boll weevils, and factory job opportunities opened up in the North while millions of men were away fighting in the Great War. Although the migration slowed down during the Great Depression, it later picked back up from the ‘40s to the ‘70s, radically changing the nation’s demographic landscape: the South was no longer home to almost 90% of the African American population. However, even though some African American neighborhoods in the North, like Harlem, managed to thrive and improve the economic conditions of their residents, African Americans continued to face racism and discrimination in the North to varying degrees.

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