The Great Migration
The Great Migration between 1916 and 1970 saw six million African Americans move from the American South to urban centers in the Northeast, Midwest and West. One of the largest movements of people in history, this migration was motivated by poor economic conditions, racial prejudice and segregation, and violence used against Black southerners who attempted to exercise their legal rights or were seen as threatening the status quo in some way. African Americans who settled in the nation's large industrial cities, while continuing to be segregated where they lived, played, worked, and prayed, established vibrant communities of their own.
Despite, for many, the real sadness for many in leaving the South, and all the barriers faced by the migrants in their new homes, the migration was an act of individual and collective agency. It changed the course of American history, and became a "declaration of independence" written by their actions, as noted by Isabel Wilkerson in her article, The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration, in the September 2016 issue of Smithsonian Magazine.
Despite, for many, the real sadness for many in leaving the South, and all the barriers faced by the migrants in their new homes, the migration was an act of individual and collective agency. It changed the course of American history, and became a "declaration of independence" written by their actions, as noted by Isabel Wilkerson in her article, The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration, in the September 2016 issue of Smithsonian Magazine.
