The migration of African Americans in the United States has occurred in response to many important events in the country's history.
Exodus to Kansas
In the 1870s, there was a mass migration of African Americans from the South to Kansas. African Americans were fleeing from the harsh and discriminatory treatment that African Americans experienced in the post-Civil War South, as "free men".
This search of a better economic opportunity combined with the available Homestead Act land made Kansas a favorable choice for African Americans
The advertisement to the left was created to encourage African American migration to Kansas.
World War I also caused a mass migration of Southern African Americans to move from the rural South (9 of every 10 lived on farms) to major cities to escape sharecropping and poverty. The industrial job opportunities associated with the war efforts were seen as an opportunity for African Americans to improve their lives. From 1916 to 1930, there was 1.5 to 2 million Southern African Americans who migrated to northern cities. This is sometimes referred to as The Great Migration.
Click on the map to compare your answers.
Based on the Great Migration Map, where did African Americans from the south migrate?
This is a Southern African American family pictured in the North about 1917.
Click on the various factors surrounding the Great Migration to learn how this movement impacted African Americans and their communities.
Analyze the map above and answer the following questions in your notes.