The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North during the 1900's - Essay Example

There seems to have been two instances where the African Americans migrated. First was between 1910-1940, following which it is considered that there was a second Great Migration, which was between 1940 and 1970. Most of the people seemed to have moved to California from places like Texas and Louisiana. This move is considered mainly due to the availability of jobs in the defense industry. The years 1965 until 1970, had seen a high number of people migrating from places like Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to other regions of the United States which fell under the Census.

However the following year brought about a number of people moving back to their original destinations due to family reasons, or kinship ties. However post 1995 until 2000, places like Georgia, Texas and Maryland, attracted the highest number of college graduates. California was considered to be one of the highest and most gaining states for the black migrants however the later 1990s led California to loose more than gain African Americans. With the Emancipation Proclamation that had been signed earlier on in 1863, left merely 8 percent of the African American population left in Northeast and Midwest.

Later on in 1900, almost ninety percent of the African American was seen to have moved out of the slave holding states to move into newer and better lives (Wesley, 1927). A number of the people had moved into places like Boston, New York, Baltimore, Chicago and many other smaller industrial cities. People wanted to take the cheapest rail ticket possible and for this they moved from places like Mississippi to Chicago. The years of 1910 until 1930s saw a rise in the African American population in Northern States and there was a rise of almost forty percent, this lead to a high level of urban tension, majorly because of the number of migrants of the African American and