The Great Migration
This is the story of The Great Migration. That mass movement of 6 million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West occurred between 1916 and 1970.
Why did they leave? To escape crushing poverty and racial persecution. “They left as though they were fleeing some curse,” said scholar Emmett J. Scott, who watched the early years of the migration. “They were willing to make almost any sacrifice to obtain a railroad ticket and they left with the intention of staying.” This is the story of those who left, why they left, and what they left behind.
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