The Relocation of African-Americans in the United States During the Great Migration

The Great Migration: The Longest Journey of Their Lives From 1915 to 1950, over one million African-Americans relocated themselves from the deep South to the states in the North. They wanted to live in a better world with more opportunities for their families and generations to come, to be successful free Americans; they deserved it after all. These American were fed up with their lives in the South and desperately needed a change (Hahn, Steven, The Unvanquished, 456). They wanted freedom and relief from the life they had been living for so long. The journey North changed most participants' lives for the better.

The poor conditions of crops and the unstable structure of the economy were some of the driving forces that pushed a lot of Southerners to move North (Betlock, Lynn, New England Great Migration). There were few schools for the children to be educated at which was a negative for most parents. The South was also known for the under pay of their workers in all different fields. For example, "their wages (were) no more than two- thirds of those paid elsewhere in the country" (Great Migration, AMME, Page 2). This quote shows that these African-Americans were furious with the way that they were being treated and wanted a better place to live and to raise their families. They wanted freedom. Although, some people just wanted to go to the North, work long enough to earn enough money to survive, and then reunite with their families in the South.

Now it is known why these people wanted to move North, but how was the journey gone about? In order to travel the great distance between the furthest Southern states to the furthest Northern ones and Canada, the African-Americans' journey was very complex and long. The migration first started when the workers from Northern companies would stand on the streets and offer out train tickets to any well-built and worthy black males that walked by. The males that were not offered a train ticket soon got wind of the success that the accepted men had, soon strived to be handed that one way golden ticket to their freedom. This move was rarely made with a wife and kids due to the price factor. For some families was too expensive for a family to make a journey as big as this one. The move was often done by "train, boat, bus, sometimes car, and even horse-drawn cart" (Great Migration, AMME, Page 3). Although, these types of transportation certainly trump walking, African-Americans faced the issue of segregation everywhere they went. The traveling was deemed brutal and hard, but the reality of life in the North was still a mystery.

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After the strenuous journey to the North, the African-Americans didn't know what to expect in the North. They now realized that they would have to compete with the whites for the same jobs that they wanted. They lived as if the blacks were not in any proximity to the whites; as if they were in totally separate towns. These towns evolved overtime to become what we know today as the ghettos. The whites considered the black's migration despicable. They didn't think that the blacks should have the rights to diverge into "their territory" (Great Migration, Encyclopedia of Chicago). The whites though of the black's infusion into the North as a plague that was bound to infect them if contact was made. In the North, there were fewer black medical facilities that blacks could go to if they were sick or injured due to segregation and separate white and black services. There were a lot of fatalities with in the first years of the African-Americans arrival in the North due to the populations in the towns (Great Migration, Digital

History). The state of overcrowding didn't change from the North to the South due to the large masses of movers. There were so many people that were packed into miniscule towns. Many blacks looked to their church for relief and support. They used this as a gateway to forget about their problems and remember why they were here; to get their freedom that they deserve.

In conclusion, the Great Migration was a life altering experience for the African- Americans who took the journey North. People earn the right to a life the way they want Not everyone survived; those who did: got the freedom they deserved, and those who died: died trying.

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