Great Migration (African American)

In the summer and fall of 1919, during what came to be known as the “Red Summer,” racial violence erupted in at least 26 cities across the United States. African Americans returning from war and migrating North were targeted in riots and lynchings, reinforcing the sense that migration was necessary for survival and dignity.

By 1970, the Great Migration had largely concluded, with about six million African Americans having relocated from the rural South to urban centers across the North, Midwest, and West. This demographic shift profoundly reshaped American society, politics, culture, and identity for generations.

By the mid-1960s, a reverse migration began: African Americans started moving from Northern and Western cities back to the South in what is called the “New Great Migration.” Factors included economic decline of Northern cities, growth of jobs in the “New South,” family ties, and eased discrimination.

On July 17, 1944, an accidental munitions explosion at Port Chicago, California, killed over 200 African American sailors. This tragedy highlighted both the integration of Black workers into wartime industries and the perilous conditions they faced, further shaping migration patterns and civil rights awareness.

Around 1940, the Second Great Migration began. This wave differed as it included mostly urban Black Southerners with skills, and expanded destinations to the West in addition to the North and Midwest. This migration was catalyzed by World War II, creating demand for labor in defense industries.

In the early 1920s, the concentration of African American migrants in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood fueled an outpouring of cultural, artistic, and intellectual production known as the Harlem Renaissance. This transformative movement reshaped American literature, music, and thought, as Black voices gained unprecedented visibility.

By 1920, Detroit’s African American population had surged from approximately 6,000 in 1910 to over 120,000. This dramatic growth reflected the broader Northern urban boom among Black migrants, drawn by automotive and industrial jobs, transforming the city’s demographic and cultural landscape.

The United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917. This dramatically increased demand for industrial labor in Northern cities, as many white workers went to war. Northern factories, meatpacking plants, and railroads began actively recruiting African American labor from the South, intensifying the scale of the Great Migration.

By 1916, African American migration from the South had begun accelerating rapidly, as World War I curtailed European immigration and created industrial labor shortages in Northern cities. Concurrently, the boll weevil damaged Southern crops, and Jim Crow violence intensified, prompting a significant exodus of Black Southerners seeking factory jobs and safety.

At the turn of the 20th century, a modest “trickle” of African Americans began leaving the rural South for Northern cities, driven by Jim Crow segregation, racial terror, limited economic prospects, and the memory of slavery receding by a generation. This laid the groundwork for what would become the Great Migration. Though smaller in scale at first, it marked a profound shift in demographic trends and aspirations, as African Americans sought freedom and opportunity beyond the South.