In our last lesson, we confronted the brutal system of extra-legal violence that enforced the Jim Crow racial hierarchy. The constant threat of lynching created a climate of terror that made life in the South unbearable for millions of African Americans. Today, we will explore the monumental response to that oppression: the Great Migration. This was not simply a relocation; it was a mass movement of people voting with their feet, an act of collective agency that would profoundly reshape the demographic, cultural, and political landscape of the United States.
This lesson will trace the story of the six million African Americans, including a young Richard Wright, who left the rural South for the cities of the North and West. We will examine the forces that pushed them out and pulled them in, the new realities they faced upon arrival, and the incredible cultural flowering that their migration ignited. Understanding this exodus is fundamental to understanding the world that shaped Wright and the story he tells in Black Boy.
The Great Exodus: Fleeing the Curse
The Great Migration, which unfolded in two major waves between roughly 1910 and 1970, was one of the largest internal migrations in human history. At its outset, 90% of all African Americans lived in the South. By its end, nearly half lived elsewhere. This was a seismic demographic shift.
What prompted this mass departure? In our previous lessons, we have already examined the primary "push" factors in detail: the economic dead-end of sharecropping, the political disenfranchisement and daily humiliations of Jim Crow laws, and the pervasive terror of lynching. The following video provides an excellent summary of how these factors combined with new "pull" factors—like industrial job openings in the North during World War I—to set the migration in motion.
The Great Migration: Crash Course Black American History #24
This Crash Course video, "The Great Migration," offers a concise and dynamic overview of the push and pull factors that drove the migration, the challenges migrants faced, and the reasons it can be understood as a refugee movement.
Please watch from the beginning of the segment on sharecropping to the end of the discussion on life in the North. As you watch, pay attention to: How the sharecropping system created a cycle of inescapable debt. The argument for viewing the migration as a "refugee crisis," a concept from scholar Isabel Wilkerson, whom we will encounter again shortly. The role of the Chicago Defender newspaper in encouraging people to move. The initial challenges, such as poverty and continued segregation, that migrants faced upon arrival.
As millions of people made the decision to leave, they followed distinct pathways, often dictated by the railroad lines that radiated out of the South. These routes would determine the character of the new Black metropolises that formed in the North and West.
A Declaration of Independence
To view the Great Migration only in terms of numbers and maps is to miss the profound human drama of the decision to leave. Each migrant was an individual making a courageous choice to abandon the only world they had ever known in search of safety and a fuller life. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson, whose work is dedicated to telling this epic story, describes it as the "first big step the nation’s servant class ever took without asking."
The following excerpt from her article, "The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration," captures the spirit of this movement and brings it to life with a personal story.
The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson's writing transforms history into a compelling narrative. This reading will give you a sense of the personal courage and stakes involved in the migration.
First, read the introduction to the article, which powerfully frames the migration as an act of seeking political asylum. Then, skip to the section that begins with a photo of James Earl Jones and read the story of his family's journey from Mississippi to Michigan, starting here. Notice how the journey itself, a mix of fear and hope, left an indelible mark on the young boy who would become one of the most iconic voices of our time.
While the North offered freedom from the immediate threat of lynching and the rigid structure of Jim Crow, it was no paradise. Migrants often faced new forms of hardship, including intense housing discrimination, resentment from established white and even Black communities, and exploitation in the workplace.
Jim Crow and the Great Migration | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
This passage from an essay by historian Jonathan Scott Holloway outlines the significant difficulties that awaited migrants in their new homes.
Please read the section that begins with the sentence Despite the fact. This provides a crucial, balanced perspective, highlighting that the move north traded one set of struggles for another.
A Cultural Renaissance
Despite these challenges, the concentration of so many African Americans in cities like New York, Chicago, and Detroit created the conditions for an unprecedented cultural explosion. People from different parts of the South brought their traditions with them, and in the urban crucible, these traditions mixed and morphed into new, dynamic forms of expression in music, art, religion, and politics.
This new energy and self-assurance gave rise to the concept of the "New Negro"—a term that signified a break from the stereotypes of the past and a commitment to racial pride and assertive self-definition.
Jim Crow and the Great Migration | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
These sections from Holloway's essay explain the intellectual, artistic, and political dimensions of the cultural shift that followed the migration.
First, read the section that starts here. It describes the cultural fusion that took place and introduces the Harlem Renaissance. Then, read the next section, The New Negro mentality, which explains how this new consciousness also reshaped the political landscape, leading to the rise of organizations like the NAACP and Marcus Garvey's UNIA.
Nowhere was this cultural renaissance more audible or visible than in the arts. The Great Migration is directly responsible for the development and popularization of quintessentially American musical forms like the blues and jazz, and later, the polished pop of Motown. The following video segment vividly illustrates this creative explosion.
The Great Migration: How 6 Million African-Americans Escaped Jim Crow
This clip from "The American Story" documentary showcases the profound impact the Great Migration had on American music and sports, bringing to life the cultural transformations we've been discussing.
Please watch the segment from this point on music. It traces the path of blues and jazz up the Mississippi and tells the story of how Berry Gordy, the son of migrants, created the "Hitsville, U.S.A." powerhouse of Motown Records in Detroit. It also highlights the story of another famous migrant, Jackie Robinson.
Conclusion
The Great Migration was far more than a demographic event; it was a watershed moment in American history. It was a mass protest against oppression and a search for freedom that, while not always fully realized, irrevocably changed the country.
Here are the key takeaways from our lesson:
- The Great Migration was a decades-long movement of six million African Americans from the rural South to the urban North and West, driven by economic, social, and violent "push" factors and the "pull" of new opportunities.
- This exodus fundamentally altered the demographic map of the United States, shifting the African American population from being overwhelmingly Southern and rural to being a national, urbanized people.
- While migrants faced new challenges in the North, including housing and job discrimination, the move represented a profound act of agency and self-determination.
- The concentration of Black populations in Northern cities fueled a major cultural and political transformation, giving rise to the Harlem Renaissance, new musical genres like jazz and blues, and a more assertive political consciousness.
Richard Wright's own life followed the classic arc of the Great Migration: from Mississippi to Memphis, then to Chicago, and finally to New York. His autobiography is, in many ways, the quintessential narrative of this journey. To fully appreciate his story, we must also understand the literary tradition he inherited and redefined. In our next lesson, we will explore the defining characteristics of the African American autobiographical tradition, starting with the slave narratives that first gave written voice to the experience of escaping bondage and seeking freedom.