The Great Migration of African Americans

The Great Migration of African Americans refers to the large-scale movement of more than one million Black Americans from the rural south to the urban north between 1915 and 1970. The migration was a result of systemic racism and economic stress in southern states, which made it increasingly difficult for Blacks to get ahead.
Black families left behind cotton fields and sharecropping opportunities for jobs in industrial cities like Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Cleveland and Baltimore. Large numbers of middle class black professionals also migrated during this time.
The Great Migration has been widely recognized as a pivotal event in American history that helped to shape both race relations and demographics nationwide. It is often considered the largest mass migration in United States history by either nationality or ethnicity.