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African Americans, Migration of

Migration has been a key process in the African American experience in the United States. African Americans were living primarily in the rural South at the end of slavery, but by the end of the 20th century they were concentrated in urban areas and were more regionally dispersed. Moreover, whereas African Americans generally have been migrating out of the South since the end of slavery, toward the end of the 20th century they began to return to the South. African American migration has had a significant influence on African Americans' labor market experiences, residential environments, and culture, all of which are reviewed in this entry.

Early Movement

African Americans as an ethnic group are a product of migration. During the 16th through early 19th centuries, Africans from a variety of ethnic groups in West and Central Africa experienced forced migration to the Americas as part of the Atlantic slave trade. Approximately 500,000 of the slaves went to the United States. Many of the slaves brought to the United States went to the South to work on plantations that cultivated southern cash crops such as tobacco.

During slavery, African Americans continued to migrate. Slaveowners forcibly moved slaves as they sold them within and across states. In addition, some slaves escaped their masters and fled to northern states or to Canada. Free Blacks also moved farther north to escape racial constraints.

Between emancipation and World War I, African Americans began moving from rural to urban areas and a small number moved to the North and to the West. An important movement of African Americans occurred in 1879 when several thousand African Americans from states such as Mississippi and Louisiana migrated to Kansas. Henry Adams, a former Union soldier, and Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, a carpenter, led the movement. The poor social and economic conditions of African Americans in the South after emancipation motivated these migrants, known as the “Exodusters.” The Exodusters hoped to establish an independent African American community in Kansas. Although some of the Kansas migrants improved their lives, others did not and they eventually left the state.

The Great Migration

Around 1910, the Great Migration began as African Americans moved out of the South and to more urban environments. Between 1910 and 1980, more than 4 million African Americans born in the South moved to other regions. Whereas 89% of African Americans lived in the South at the beginning of the 20th century, the proportion of African Americans living in the South decreased to 55% by the end of the century. Moreover, between 1920 and 1970, the proportion of African Americans living in urban areas increased from 44% to 74%. Cities such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles were major destinations.

Several factors affected the Great Migration. World War I was a major impetus. The war led to a sharp decline in the number of European immigrants working in northern factories. African Americans from the South fulfilled the northern demand for labor. During World War II, African Americans were permitted to take defense jobs, leading to further migration to the North and to the West. Also, agricultural labor in the South increasingly became mechanized over these decades, and so fewer workers were needed. The decreased number of jobs led to fewer opportunities for African American workers in the South. These labor market changes, coupled with the racism pervasive in the South, led to significant African American migration out of the South between 1910 and 1970.

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