US History · 11th Grade · Depression, New Deal & World War II · Weeks 19-27

Great Migration & Northern Racial Tensions

Investigate the massive movement of African Americans from the rural South to Northern cities and its consequences.

• Common Core State Standards
• C3: D2.Geo.7.9-12
• C3: D2.His.1.9-12

About This Topic

The Great Migration, spanning roughly 1910 to 1970 in two main waves, was one of the most consequential demographic shifts in American history. Approximately 1.6 million Black Americans left the rural South between 1910 and 1940, driven by a specific combination of push and pull factors. Push factors included the boll weevil infestation that devastated cotton crops beginning around 1915, the terror of Jim Crow violence and disenfranchisement, and the political powerlessness enforced by law and custom. Pull factors included Northern industrial labor demand, especially during World War I when European immigration was cut off, higher wages, and the possibility of voting and political participation.

The Great Migration transformed Northern cities. Chicago's South Side, Detroit's Paradise Valley, and Harlem became centers of Black urban culture and political life. But Northern racism had its own geography: restrictive housing covenants, redlining, and white violence confined Black migrants to specific neighborhoods regardless of income or aspiration. The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 killed 38 people and injured hundreds more. Racial discrimination in the North differed from Southern Jim Crow in legal form but not in practical effect, maintaining segregated schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods through market mechanisms and organized violence rather than explicit statute.

Active learning is especially effective here because the migration's human dimensions can be accessed through exceptionally rich primary sources: letters from migrants, photographs, and Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series paintings.

Key Questions

1. Analyze the primary 'push' and 'pull' factors that drove the Great Migration.
2. Explain how the migration changed the demographic and political landscape of Northern cities.
3. Evaluate the new forms of racial tension and discrimination that emerged in the North.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the primary push and pull factors that motivated African Americans to migrate from the rural South to Northern cities between 1910 and 1970.
• Explain how the demographic shifts caused by the Great Migration altered the political and social landscape of major Northern urban centers.
• Evaluate the new forms of racial discrimination and tension that emerged in Northern cities as a result of increased Black populations.
• Compare and contrast the nature of racial segregation and violence in the Jim Crow South with that experienced by migrants in Northern cities.

Before You Start

Jim Crow Laws and Southern Society

Why: Students need to understand the systemic oppression and violence in the South to grasp the 'push' factors driving the Great Migration.

Industrialization in the United States

Why: Understanding the growth of Northern industries is crucial for comprehending the 'pull' factors of job availability and economic opportunity.

Urbanization in America

Why: Knowledge of the growth of cities and their existing social structures is necessary to analyze the impact of the Great Migration on Northern urban landscapes.

Key Vocabulary

Great Migration	The large-scale movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to urban centers in the North, Midwest, and West between the early 20th century and the 1970s.
Push Factors	Conditions in the South, such as Jim Crow laws, racial violence, and economic hardship, that compelled African Americans to leave their homes.
Pull Factors	Opportunities in the North, including industrial job availability, higher wages, and the promise of greater social and political freedoms, that attracted African Americans.
Restrictive Covenants	Legal clauses in property deeds that prohibited the sale or lease of land to certain racial or ethnic groups, used to maintain segregated neighborhoods in the North.
Redlining	A discriminatory practice by which services (financial and otherwise) are withheld from potential customers who reside in neighborhoods classified as 'high-risk,' often based on racial demographics.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

The North offered racial equality to Black migrants.

What to Teach Instead

Northern cities enforced racial segregation through housing covenants, redlining, employment discrimination, and organized violence rather than explicit law. Black migrants gained important freedoms, especially voting rights, but faced serious discrimination in housing, schools, and workplaces. Comparing Black and white unemployment rates, housing maps, and school quality data in Northern cities reveals the persistence of structural inequality.

Common Misconception

The Great Migration was a single event that ended in the 1920s.

What to Teach Instead

The Great Migration occurred in two main waves: the first from approximately 1910 to 1940, and the second, even larger wave from roughly 1940 to 1970. In total, approximately six million Black Americans relocated from the South to the North and West over six decades, making it one of the largest internal migrations in American history.

Active Learning Ideas

Document Analysis: Letters from Migrants

Students read two or three authentic letters sent by Great Migration participants to family in the South, drawn from the Chicago Defender archive. Students identify what each writer hoped to find, what challenges they actually encountered, and whether their expectations matched their experience. Pairs compare letters and identify patterns across individual accounts.

35 min·Pairs

Gallery Walk: Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series

Post six panels from Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series with their original titles. Students write a one-sentence interpretation of each panel, then the class assembles these interpretations into a collective narrative of the migration. A debrief discussion asks: what choices did Lawrence make in representing the migration, and what did he emphasize or omit?

30 min·Pairs

Case Study Analysis: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919

Students read a brief primary source account of the 1919 riot and work in small groups to identify the immediate trigger, the underlying racial tensions in housing and employment, and the long-term structural causes. Groups then categorize each cause as a push factor, pull factor, or Northern racial hostility, and the class discusses which category was most responsible.

40 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• Urban planners today still grapple with the legacy of housing segregation and redlining that began to solidify during the Great Migration, impacting neighborhood development and economic opportunity in cities like Chicago and Detroit.
• Sociologists and historians study the cultural contributions of Great Migration communities, such as the Harlem Renaissance, to understand how migration patterns shape artistic expression and identity in urban environments.
• Labor historians examine the impact of Black workers entering Northern industries, analyzing how their arrival influenced labor unions, wages, and workplace dynamics during periods of industrial expansion and wartime production.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Provide students with a map of the US. Ask them to draw at least three arrows showing migration routes from Southern states to Northern cities. On the back, have them list one 'push' factor and one 'pull' factor that explains their chosen routes.

Discussion Prompt

Pose the question: 'How did racial tensions in the North, though different in form from Jim Crow, create similar barriers for African Americans?' Facilitate a discussion where students compare and contrast legal versus de facto segregation and violence.

Quick Check

Present students with short primary source excerpts (e.g., a letter from a migrant, a newspaper clipping about a race riot, a housing covenant). Ask them to identify which aspect of the Great Migration experience (push factor, pull factor, Northern tension, cultural impact) the excerpt best represents and to explain their reasoning in one sentence.

Frequently Asked Questions

What caused the Great Migration?

The Great Migration was driven by specific push and pull factors. Push factors included Jim Crow violence, boll weevil crop destruction, agricultural poverty, and disenfranchisement in the South. Pull factors included Northern industrial jobs, higher wages, the possibility of political participation, and nominally integrated public spaces. The confluence of economic catastrophe in the South with labor demand in the North accelerated the movement dramatically during and after World War I.

Where did Black Americans move during the Great Migration?

The primary destinations were Northern and Midwestern industrial cities: Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and New York were among the most common. These cities offered manufacturing jobs in the steel, meatpacking, and automobile industries. Within these cities, racial discrimination in housing confined most migrants to specific neighborhoods, which became centers of Black cultural and political life.

What kinds of racial discrimination did Black migrants face in Northern cities?

Northern discrimination operated through housing covenants, which barred Black families from buying property in most neighborhoods; redlining, through which banks denied mortgages in Black neighborhoods; employment discrimination, which confined Black workers to unskilled jobs regardless of qualifications; and organized white violence against Black residents who moved into predominantly white areas. These mechanisms produced and maintained segregation without the explicit legal framework of Southern Jim Crow.

How can primary sources help students understand the human dimensions of the Great Migration?

Primary sources from the Great Migration are both accessible and emotionally immediate. Letters from migrants reveal individual hopes, fears, and experiences in voices that statistics cannot capture. Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series translates the movement into visual narrative that students can interpret directly. These sources make the migration feel like a human story rather than a demographic statistic, which motivates more careful and empathetic historical analysis.

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