The Great Migration
From Florida’s stormy banks I go
I’ve bid the South “Good by”
No longer shall they treat me so
And knock me in the eye.
The northern states is where I’m bound.
My cross if more than double
If the chief executive can be found.
I’ll tell him all my trouble.
“Bound for the Promised Land” by Matthew Ward (Originally published in the Chicago Defender, November 11, 1916)
Beginning in the 1910s, millions of Black people across the South would migrate to Northern and Western cities, forever transforming the political, social, and cultural geography of the United States. Philadelphia’s Black population tripled between 1910 and 1930 during this First Great Migration, with most people coming from just four states (Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Maryland). Philadelphia’s reputation as a “city of homes” proved attractive for those seeking to purchase property, and by 1930 Philadelphia had higher rates of Black home ownership than any city outside the South. The green yards of West Philadelphia were particularly attractive, and these neighborhoods became known as “the land of sun porches, potted palms and second mortgages” for its Black residents in the early 20th century (Hardy 1985).
Why “go north”?
Many Black people in the South made the decision to come north under the umbrella of two forces: the perceived hope of economic opportunity in the North, and the desire to escape the legal system of white supremacy in the South. Combined, the pull of economic opportunity and the desire to flee the increasingly repressive South turned a series of individual decisions into a mass movement that transformed the United States.
These forces developed under a particular set of historical circumstances. The first economic cause was the 1914–15 labor depression in the South. Following the summers of 1915 and 1916, the Cotton Boll Weevil damaged the cotton crop over a substantial area including Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida. During the summer of 1915, unusual floods spanned these same states, further destroying cotton and other crops. After these events, the price of cotton drastically decreased. This, alongside the increased cost of living in the South, unsettled individuals and forced them to find a way to increase their wages (image 1). At the same time, World War I drastically decreased foreign immigration resulting in great demand in the North for the labor of Black people at higher wages than those paid in the South.
Southern Black people also left to escape the oppression and everyday violence of the South, although many new arrivals would find racism and white supremacy woven into the fabric of Northern cities as well. For example, the first Black principal in the Philadelphia school district, Ruth W. Hayre, recalled her father’s decision to move to West Philadelphia from Georgia:
Oh, I’m sure that because my father never could have lived in the South. He was too vocal, too articulate, he saw it was wrong, he just never could have lived his life in the South. And I guess he knew early that he would have to leave, and of course, there were many more opportunities, as prejudice as the North was at the time, there still were many more opportunities, at least to live free, in a way, and to get a good education for your children, than would have been in the South. (“Interview: Ruth W. Hayre, June 7, 1984,” Goin' North)
What was life like in West Philadelphia?
Black people migrating from the South came with vastly different degrees of knowledge about the city—some came straight from their farms with limited education and little preparation for an urban lifestyle, while others from cities in the South felt more accustomed to how city life worked. Some newly arrived Black families were shocked by the drastically different way of life and culture in the North, not being used to rowhomes and feeling that everybody was living so close to each other. Some noted that the lack of greetings from strangers was a strange habit in Philadelphia. Learning how to dress appropriately for the city, work routines determined by the clock, take public transportation, address people properly, and use a telephone were challenges for many.
Domestic work was the foundation of Philadelphia’s Black economy. It was not uncommon to find women who had college degrees and were educators in the South working as maids or washerwomen in the North. Live-in maids had little time for themselves, often having only one day per week off. They would cook, wash, iron, and clean; they became accustomed to how things were done in the North and grew strong attachments to the families they took care of, even remaining affectionate to their employers later in life. However, these same women also felt the work was demeaning and that their working conditions implied they were seen as less than human (image 3). Day work for Black women was even more grueling since there was no personal bond created from living with a family, leading white housewives to work their underpaid servants as much as possible. If women did not want to work as a maid, their other options were public work and factory work, especially in Philadelphia’s tobacco industry. Black women could get higher wages and more freetime at the factories, though the conditions were grueling and often unsanitary— they were paid less than white women, treated poorly, and confined to the worst machinery and least desirable jobs. On average, Black women made half of what their male-counterparts made.
Many of the Black men that came North looking for opportunity were mechanics, skilled artisans, educators, bakers, carpenters, plumbers, clerks, and insurance salesmen in the South. However, the work that was available to them in the North was the unskilled, backbreaking work of a laborer. Between 1890 and 1910, Black men had access to service jobs as waiters, barbers, and servants. However with the rise of Jim Crow, Black men were pushed out of these jobs by Portuguese, Italian, and other immigrants and were confined to work digging, hauling, and toting for the railroads, street railways, steel mills, and waterfronts. Many men were employed by Philadelphia Mass Transit Co., Atlantic Refining, and Franklin Sugar. Wartime industries allowed Black men to work manufacturing and mechanical jobs that were previously considered unfit; however, after the war, these men were laid off from these better paying jobs and sent back to low-paying, unskilled laborer jobs.
