Twentieth century black migrations to the North represent the most critical mass movement of African American people in history other than the forced migration of slavery. Because of the huge impact of these migrations on African Americans and on the nation at large, it is important to understand the reasons for the migrations, white and black institutional responses to this movement, and the known consequences of northern urbanization.
Black migrants left the South for several reasons. Most studies blame economic troubles and abuse endured by the southern blacks as the main causes. Boll weevils, floods, employee machinations, mechanization, and minimum-wage laws were among many troubles. Racist abuse added to the troubles.
Migration made race a national issue; the sudden presence of blacks and the economic competi
tion they caused forced northern whites to confront their own racism daily. The myth that race was only a southern problem was broken. According to Nicholas Lemann in The Promised Land: The Great Migration and How it Changed America (1991),"The very notion that an enormous racial problem existed in the North caused the whole consensual vision of American society to crumble." Many African Americans already knew this.
The Great Migration also contributed to increased interracial tensions. African American workers from the South were often willing to work for lower wages than whites. Thus, white workers feared that African Americans from the South were going to compete for their jobs, lower their wages, or serve as strikebreakers.
The arrival of large number of African Americans migrants from the south created numerous prob
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