Negro Migration during the War

The study analyzes the mass movement of Black southerners to northern and midwestern urban centers during the First World War, tracing economic, social, and political causes—labor demand in the North, agricultural distress, racial oppression and legal abuses—and identifying agencies and campaigns that accelerated the flow. It maps the diffusion across regions, documents the demographic draining of the Black Belt, and provides case studies of cities such as Chicago and St. Louis and other Midwestern and Eastern points. The author assesses southern responses, national organizational remedies, and shifts in public opinion, and concludes with policy suggestions and supporting data and sources.