Essay On The Great Migration

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The Great Migration 1916-1970 What would it be like to leave everything behind and move to a new city? Would you miss your old home, or would you be excited about a change? This happened to many African Americans during The Great Migration. The Great Migration was when many African Americans moved to the North, changing many things about the United States and their own lives. African Americans living in the South prior to The Great Migration lived very difficult lives. For example, “Most African Americans in the South still worked as farmers [After the Civil War], and few owned their own land. They were very poor and lived in small, run-down cabins” (Halpern 5). This shows even though African Americans were free after the Civil War, they…show more content…
While World War One prompted many African Americans to move North, many still wondered if this was the best decision to make. Much of the Southern population did not want the African Americans to migrate to the North for social and economic reasons. For example, “Southern whites were furious; while they depended on the inferiority of blacks, they also depended on their cheap labor” (Gates 256). The Southern whites thought that African Americans were lower in status than themselves. White Southern business owners depended on African Americans to work for them. In addition, other African Americans wanted them to stay, “Some [African American] church leaders tried to prevent [African American] members of their congregations from moving North” (Halpern 16). The church leaders did not want the African Americans to leave, because then the church would not have as many people attending the church as before. The churches depended on money from the people to keep the church open. Furthermore, in the South, “ [...] the white bosses did not want to let you [the African Americans] go” (Gregory 57). The white bosses depended on African Americans a lot because they did not pay them a lot, they also worked hard. While many African Americans from the South were migrating to the North, most of the Southern whites and even black church leaders were furious about the
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