After the Reconstruction era the African American’s population changed in the south during the 19 th and early 20 th centuries. This movement was quite radical in that they moved from the Southern states towards the Northern and Western states. This caused the African American populations to change in the South quite drastically and changed the population in the other area’s to change drastically too. The Jim Crow laws were a big reason why the African Americans moved. These laws legalized discrimination and local segregation. These laws were a way for the whites to control the blacks and maintain a white supremacy in the South.
The blacks could not sit in the same area on the railways as the whites, they had separate public restrooms, could not eat in white restaurants or enjoy entertainment in the same movie theaters as the whites. The African American’s were seeking a more industrious life where the money was better and their years as slaves would prove them as hard workers. More political rights and a place with better economy than the south was another reason why they migrated. Many decided to move away from the “Lynch Mobs.” Other reasons included severe floods on the cotton farms which caused the cotton to be ruined and the cotton economy bega in to fail causing the loss of many African American jobs.
The Essay on African American Slavery
... horrors endured by enslaved African-Americans, whether physical or mental, were numerous. White Virginians were caught up ... revealed in a 1740 slave code in South Carolina: all Negroes and Indians, 'free Indians ... better rations, and had greater opportunity to move about in relative freedom. They also were ... face of American slavery began to change from the "tawny" Indian to the "blackamoor" African in the ...
Many Northern states needed labor due to World War I and they were offering higher wages than the South. Many African Americans found this as an advantage to change their economy. African Americans migrated throughout the United States into the Indian Territories, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, the Rockies and some came as far West as California. Many of the African Americans thought that they would not be discriminated against in the west and found out otherwise and some desired a state of their own in Oklahoma.
Both Indians and the whites did not want to see a state that was considered a “Negro State”, though an all black town was formed in 1891 in Langston, Oklahoma. Boley, Oklahoma was the larges all-Negro town, which held elections for five years and had a diversity of republicans and democrats in this town. Soon the Whites would lessen the African American control on these towns. Due to this “Great Migration” the United States saw more diversity of blacks throughout other states. The African Americans brought with them to these states many of their African cultures though art, dance, music and life African heritage, which are seen today in many areas of the United States. I believe that the “Great Migration” helped the African American gain control of their own lives and helped them to achieve their civil rights in the years to come after their migration.
Even today we see African Americans moving into better homes and better towns. My self growing up in Palos Verdes, which was a predominately white area when I was growing up, my high school had only 2 African Americans by the time I graduated. Today while my sisters are attending the school in Palos Verdes they see a more diversity of cultures, including the African Americans. This proves that the African Americans have been attaining their economic freedom and less racial discriminations than was seen even 20 years ago.
