Great Migration of African Americans from the Rural South to the Urban North, 1915-1970

In 1900, a generation after slavery ended, 90% of African Americans still lived in the rural South, mostly as sharecroppers, with no way to escape Jim Crow segregation and violence. It was not until World War I that industrial employers in cities like Chicago and Detroit, which were only 2% Black, began hiring Black workers to fill labor shortages created by soldiers going overseas and immigration collapsing. Between 1915 and 1970, six million African Americans moved North, transforming all aspects of American culture. Jobs in meatpacking plants, steel mills, and car factories gave their families a better standard of living for over 50 years, and very few migrants expressed regret about leaving the South. But in the 50 years since 1970, many of those manufacturing jobs vanished, and some Black leaders now suggest a return to the South could be a path to a better future.