The Great Migration:
What: African-Americans moved to big cities during the first World War.
Why: African-Americans moved in order to obtain better jobs, to escape racial discrimination, to fill the new shortage in industrial jobs due to the war, and also as a result of the boll weevil infestation and the Great Mississippi Flood, which displaced hundreds of African-Americans.
Physical Movement: relocation away from the South to the Northern and Midwestern cities such as Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and Philadelphia, which involved a change in their environments, both in climate and physical surroundings. They formed black communities in their new homes. As a result of the large migrant population, housing shortages and riots were common.
Psychological Effects: Although the migration created jobs for many and also enabled class mobility, they often faced new forms of extreme discrimination. This may have led them to feel that they did not truly belong anywhere within the United States. They had to compete amongst each other for the scarce jobs, which strained their relationships and led to unstable family situations. Due to ensuing competition, blacks developed a hatred for the white working class and racial tensions spread throughout the country. Also, the migration led to a change in the African-American culture from agricultural- to industrial-centered, the creation of jazz, and a new social status for blacks.
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