Post World War II Migration to the Suburbs - Research Paper Example

Post World War II migration to the suburbs The Post World War II period experienced a high rate of migration from the urban areas to the suburbs, especially for the whites of the European ancestry, who were moving from the urban regions to settle in the suburbs. Various reasons have accounted for this migration, with other considerable migrations being experienced from the inner and older suburbs, to the rural areas (Chen, Orum, and Paulson, 162). In the period after World War II, life started changing back to normal with the soldiers and other returning war veterans, who were participating in the war coming back home to settle and work in more peacetime jobs. The industries that were highly pre-occupied with producing weapons started producing other consumable commodities, improving the economy of the US and making life better for the people (Lois, 7). This change towards the positive direction did not come without some negativity. The improvement of the economy and the lifestyle of the people meant that the people had to change their earlier lifestyles and start looking and adjusting to new lifestyles. While for some, the new lifestyles were to be found in the urban areas, for the others it had to be better in the suburbs and the rural areas. The bottom-line is that many aspects of the American lifestyles changed during the post World War II period, and many people were now earning good money and could no longer be satisfied with their old ways of life (Chen, Orum, and Paulson, 123). The end of the World War II meant different lives for different groups of people, most of whom, had to adapt to new a lifestyle. Therefore, this discussion seeks to investigate the Post World War II migration to the suburbs, with a focus on the reasons that led to this migration. One of the major factors that led to the Post World War II migration to the suburbs is the returning World War II Veterans. The return of the war veterans contributed to the Post World War II migration to the suburbs in two ways. First, the soldiers who were fighting in the World War II sought a place to live, as they started obtaining peacetime jobs and earning a living in different ways, as opposed to fighting on the battle fronts (Garnett, 285). In their attempt to earn a living, the soldiers and war veterans could not find sufficient accommodation in the urban areas, due to the shortage of housing in the urban regions. This being the case, the war veterans had to seek for a place to live, which was not far from the urban areas, and thus would allow them to commute from the urban areas where they were working in industries and other sectors back to their homes (Stahura, 317). This led to the development of various suburbs in close proximity to the main towns and cities. This saw a move from the urban areas to the suburbs, which was not only meant for the War veterans, but also for the other urban residents who found that the suburbs had developed close to the urban areas, and therefore it was easy for them to commute to and from the suburbs. It is this pressure of developing housing for the returning war veterans that saw many suburbs develop, especially between 1947 and 1951 (Richard and Frederic, 43). The second way in which the returning World War II veterans contributed to Post World War II migration to the suburbs, is through the building and construction knowledge and skills that they had acquired while working with the military (Lois, 12). The war veterans had learnt mass-production housing expertise while they were working with the military, which entailed the use of uniform and interchangeable parts, to develop housing units that were similar and that would take a shorter duration. It is through this expertise that Levittown emerged, which refers to suburbs that were named after the Levitt & Sons, Inc. construction company, which was founded by Abraham Levitt (Richard and Frederic, 31). Despite the fact that the firm had been in existence for the period before the World War II, its performance was dismal, owing to the suffering of the building industry under the general embargo which was applied during the war period. However, after the end of the war, one of the sons of the founder of this company; William Levitt, returned from the war to serve in his father’s company. Fortunate enough, William Levitt had acquired the much needed expertise in mass-production of housing, and thus took charge of the company to champion for the development of suburbs in different regions. The expertise entailed enhanced speed, and cost-effective construction and efficiency, which meant that housing units could be developed at a very high rate to meet the housing demands of the people in the regions outside the main urban centers. In fact, by 1948, the expertise and system of construction by the Levitt & Sons, Inc. construction company had increased so much, so that it was possible to build 30 housing units in a day (Richard and Frederic, 63). This saw the development of various Levittown, seeing William Levitt remain pronounced as the father of Suburbia in the post World War II America. The other factor that contributed to the Post World War II migration to the suburbs is the rise of the minorities, to a working class. In the period after the World War II, there was a great improvement in the economy of America, which was largely accounted for by the stability in the production of commodities by industries, which were previously manufacturing weapons (Lois, 22). After the end of the World War II, the industries started manufacturing consumable goods, which were much needed by the stable population. Further, the revival of the industries from weapon production to the production of consumable goods meant that there was a creation of large number of jobs, which were being taken up by the returning war veterans, or the minorities who were migrating from the rural and underdeveloped areas, to take up employment in the urban areas. This meant that there was an influx of the minorities in the urban areas, in the periods following the end of the World War II, which in turn caused pressure in the urban areas, since the fewer resources that were there had to be shared by a large number of people (Stahura, 320). The resources that were strained to the limits were housing facilities, which forced many people to seek for accommodation outside the main urban areas. This saw the creation of housing units in areas with a close proximity to the urban regions, giving rise to suburbs (Garnett, 280). The GI bill is yet another factor that contributed to the Post World War II migration to the suburbs. In the periods after World War II, the Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944, which is informally referred to as the GI bill was passed, which provided a range of benefits to the returning World War II veterans (Richard and Frederic, 153). This Act provided that the returning veterans be granted low-cost mortgages and low interest loans, which would enable the veterans to own their homes and start their peacetime life, through establishing businesses and farming. Additionally, the Act provided that the returning veterans be granted cash payments of tuition and living expenses, which would enable them attend educational institutions and obtain education; an opportunity that they had missed when they were serving under the military (Richard and Frederic, 36). The benefits were granted to all veterans who were serving in the war for a period of 90 days and more, owing to the lost opportunities they incurred while serving at the battle front. The GI bill also provided that the returning war veterans be paid one year of unemployment compensation, to enable them re-establish their lives afresh, and take the path of prosperity, as had happened with the civilians who were left behind running their normal businesses of life. While these provisions were noble to enhance the settlement and the re-establishment of new lives for the returning war veterans, they served to increase the pressures in the housing and accommodation facilities in the urban areas, which meant that the residents of the urban areas had to seek for alternative housing units, eventually taking them to the regions near the urban areas, where they established the suburbs (Chen, Orum, and Paulson, 64). Further, the returning veterans had been granted sufficient money to support their lives, as well as easy and cheap mortgage and loan services, which allowed them to be in a position of owning their own homes. Considering that there were no homes in the urban areas which the returning veterans could have bought, and considering that the urban areas were congested and thus there was no space for building new homes, the war veterans had no option, but to look for areas in close proximity where they could settle. This saw them establish suburbs near the main urban areas, from where they would commute to the urban areas and conduct their businesses. This led to Post World War II migration to the suburbs (Stahura, 324). Racism also played a big role in causing the Post World War II migration to the suburbs. In the periods after the World War II, racial segregation was still imminent in many parts of America. Therefore, while the economic conditions started improving and thus the urban areas started attracting many people to take up the jobs that were created in industries and other sectors of the economy, there was a mass movement of individuals from all regions of America to the urban areas (Garnett, 302). The implication of this is that; the regions that were previously occupied by the whites were now accommodating other racial groups, since the jobs that were created by the industries and other sectors attracted a stream of many immigrants from the rural areas to the urban areas. This occurrence did not auger well with the whites at the time, who did not wish to live together with the other minority social groups. Therefore, the whites opted to move out of the urban areas and seek alternative accommodation in the regions with a close proximity to the urban areas, which saw them establish suburbs or move to the ones that were already existing, leaving the other minority groups to occupy and live in the urban areas (Lois, 15). Therefore, it is the increasing pressure from the increased minority populations in the urban areas that was felt by the working class and the middle-class white families, coupled with the overcrowding that occurred in towns as a result of the increased minority populations, which compelled the white families to move out to the suburbs. The racial pressure, desegregation plan and the busing system contributed to the suburb migration in the post World War II period. Racial pressure was replicated later in the 1970s, when the plans for desegregation were made, forcing all the races to use similar facilities and interact in many aspect of their lives. Such interactions were encouraged in areas such as the education system, where the children from all races were required to share the same school facilities and interact in the course of their transport to school and also learning. This plan brought about the busing system, which entailed transporting children to schools in a way that would redress the racial segregation of schools or the effect of schools segregation, based on the demographic characteristics of regions (Chen, Orum, and Paulson, 180). This system, also known as the forced busing, sought to have children from a certain region that were members of a given race moved to schools in a different neighborhood, so that racial interactions between the children would be encouraged. However, this system was implemented in certain regions, which were perceived to be mostly affected by racial segregation. Considering that this system did not work well for some communities or particular individuals and families within a community, they opted to move from the regions where the desegregation plan and the busing system were being implemented, to the regions where the same did not exist. The result of this is that; there was a mass movement of people from certain regions to others, especially from the urban areas which were highly affected by the enforcement of the desegregation and busing systems, to the suburbs which were not affected (Stahura, 321). Another factor that contributed to the Post World War II migration to the suburbs is the infrastructural development. The periods after the World War II experienced major infrastructural improvements that were brought about by the improved economical conditions (Richard and Frederic, 52). There was a great need for improved infrastructure, since the movement of raw materials from the rural areas to the urban areas where the industries were found, was paramount. Robert Moses was the main architect of the roads networks, always favoring the construction of highways instead of public transit. Robert Moses was the master builder of the New York City during mid-20th century, overseeing the construction of New Yorks large parkway network (Chen, Orum, and Paulson, 136). Additionally, improved infrastructure was necessary to enhance the movement of the finished products from the urban regions where they were being manufactured to the rural areas, where their demand was high. The other factor that accounts for the improvement of the infrastructure in the post World War II period, is the fact that the farming and production activities were highly increasing in the rural areas, which meant that the produce had to be transported to the urban areas where they were consumed. All these factors combined to influence the development of infrastructural facilities, which included roads and railway networks (Garnett, 292). While such infrastructural facilities were being developed for those reasons, the urban residents who were not comfortable with the increased pressures and overcrowding of the minorities in the urban regions saw an opportunity of easy transit, from the urban areas to the suburbs. This saw such individuals and families use the roads and railways which were constructed during the period to move from the urban areas to the suburbs. Therefore, it can be seen that infrastructural development, especially in roads and railway contributed to the Post World War II migration to the suburbs. Discriminatory business practices serve as the other factor that contributed to the Post World War II migration to the suburbs. There existed inequality in the business practices that were applied to different racial groups during the periods immediately after World War II (Chen, Orum, and Paulson, 205). Examples of such discriminatory business practices include the mortgage discrimination which favored the whites over the minority groups, as well as redlining in loans provision, which applied strict conditions for loans approval for the minorities, while the whites easily accessed the loans. The implication of this is that; there occurred deterioration in the status and standards of the areas dominated by the minority groups, which were mostly the urban regions, which provided the minorities with employment opportunities (Richard and Frederic, 112). Following the deteriorated standards of living and status of these regions, an out-migration occurred for the other communities from these regions to the other regions which had better living standards (Lois, 27). It is this movement that caused the working class and the middle-class, who were mostly the whites, to move out of the urban regions to the suburbs, where they could live a better life, and maintain the standards of their lives as they pleased. Thus, the discriminatory business practices, which accounted for the deterioration of the status and standards of living of minority-dominated regions, contributed to Post World War II migration to the suburbs. Works Cited Chen, Xiangming , Orum, Anthony and Paulson, Krista. Introduction to Cities. Malden, MS, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013. Print. Garnett, Nicole. Suburbs as Exit, Suburbs as Entrance. Michigan Law Review, Vol. 106, No. 2 (2007), pp. 277-304. Print. Lois Craig. Suburbs. Design Quarterly, No. 132, Suburbs (1986), pp. 3-32. Print. Stahura, John. Black and White Population Change in Small American Suburbs Since World War II: Regional Differences. Sociological Focus, 21. 4 (1988), pp. 317-329. Print. Richard T. LeGates and Frederic Stout. The City Reader (5th ed.). NY: Routledge, 2011. Print. Read More