THE SPREAD OF THE MOVEMENT
In the first communities visited by representatives of northern
capital, their offers created unprecedented commotion. Drivers and
teamsters left their wagons standing in the street. Workers, returning
home, scrambled aboard the trains for the North without notifying
their employers or their families. The crowds that blackened the pool
rooms and "hangouts" faded away as the trains continued to leave.
Wild rumors about the North crept into circulation and received
unquestioning credence. Songs about Pennsylvania, the spontaneous
expression of anxiety and joy over the sudden revelation of a new
world, floated about on the lips of the children. Homes were thrown on
the market and sold at ruinously low prices.
It was observed that the beginnings in each new community exhibited
the same characteristics. This is due in part to a pretty universal
state of unrest among negroes throughout the South. Although the first
State entered by representatives of northern capital was Florida,
their efforts were not confined to that commonwealth. And again,
although the Pennsylvania and Erie Railroads were the first to import
negroes in large numbers, they were not alone in the field very
long. The steel mills of the East and the railroads of the West
soon followed--each selecting States from which egress was easy and
convenient. The authorities of the cities of Florida, when they
began to engage themselves in the suppression of recruiting agents,
succeeded in scattering them to other fields where their mere
presence, preceded as it was by the news of their mission in the
South, was sufficient to attract, first, all of the landless labor,
then to loosen the steady workman wedded to the soil, and finally
to carry away the best of the working classes. Quite naturally
southeastern Georgia was the second district to feel the drain of the
exodus. These workers were carried into Pennsylvania, New York and New
Jersey for the maintenance work of the roads. North Carolina was next
entered; then finally Virginia which had been sending many negroes
into New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey for a number of years.[45]
Numerous illustrations show the popular state of mind at the
beginning, when every one was feverish. Men would loudly decry the
folly of breaking up their homes, the result of years of unrelenting
toil, and venturing into the unknown North, and within less than
twenty-four hours, would leave themselves. A good citizen would talk
with another about the apparent insanity of those negroes who had
"contracted the northern fever." They would condemn their acts with
their strongest words. Hardly before another day could pass, one of
the two would disappear, having imitated the recklessness of the very
people he had so recently condemned.
One man in telling of how they acted, asserts "You could see a man
today and he would be calling the people who were leaving all kinds of
names; he could even beat you when it came to calling them fools for
going north. The next day when you met him he wouldn't talk so loud
and the next day he wouldn't let you see him. That would be the last
of him, because, unless you went to the depot, you wouldn't see him
again. Whenever I saw them shying off from me, I always knew what they
had up their sleeves." It was "just naturally fashionable" to
leave for the North. A man would make up his mind to go and proceed
forthwith to persuade his friends. If they refused, they no longer had
any interests in common. In talking with a man who had persistently
refused to leave, he declared that he had lost practically every
friend he had, simply because he did not agree with them on "the
northern question." For the pastors of churches it was a most trying
ordeal. They must watch their congregations melt away and could say
nothing. If they spoke in favor of the movement, they were in danger
of a clash with the authorities. If they discouraged it, they were
accused of being bought up to hold negroes in bondage. If a pastor
attempted to persuade negroes to stay, his congregation and his
collection would be cut down and in some cases his resignation
demanded. In some of the smaller communities the pastors settled this
difficulty by following their flock, as was the case of three who left
Hattiesburg, Mississippi, following their congregations. Two lumber
companies in Mississippi employed a negro to lecture for the purpose
of discouraging the exodus. He was handsomely paid, but he was
unheeded. Even now he is held in contempt by his former friends.
The devout and religious saw God in the movement. It was inspired,
they said, else why could so many thousand negroes all be obsessed at
once with the same impulse. There were set afloat rumors that a great
calamity was about to befall the Southland. In Georgia and Alabama,
hundreds believed that God had cursed the land when he sent droughts
and floods and destructive pests to visit them. The number of negroes
needed in the North was counted in millions; the wages offered were
fabulous and the letters that came from the vanguard painted pictures
of a land of plenty. From some communities a small group would leave,
promising to inform those behind of the actual state of affairs. For
a week or more there would follow a tense period of "watchful waiting"
and never ending anxiety, when finally there would arrive a card
bearing the terse report "Everything pritty," or "Home ain't nothing
like this." On this assurance, a reckless disposition of household
effects would follow.[46]
The towns quite naturally were the first to feel the effect. There,
the pass rider--the labor agent--could move about more freely. People
lived in closer contact and news circulated more rapidly; the papers
came in regularly and the negroes themselves could see those leaving.
On market days when the country folk reached town they got their first
impulse from the commotion. Young country boys failed to return to
quiet isolation, and sturdy sensible farmers whose whole lives had
been spent on the farm, could not resist the temptation. As they
returned they informed their neighbors, saying: "They are leaving town
by the thousands," or "Man, colored folks are leaving in droves for
the North." There are cases of men who left their fields half
plowed and journeyed to the city and thence to the North. In other
communities, the beginning would be a timid dribble to the larger
cities or directly to the North.[47]
The state of mind of the community under the influence of the first
effects of the "fever" is illustrated in authenticated accounts of
persons who witnessed the exodus from different cities:
The most interesting thing is how these people left. They were
selling out everything they had or in a manner giving it away;
selling their homes, mules, horses, cows, and everything about
them but their trunks. All around in the country, people who
were so old they could not very well get about were leaving.
Some left with six to eight very small children and babies
half clothed, no shoes on their feet, hungry, not anything to
eat and not even a cent over their train fare. Some would go
to the station and wait there three or four days for an agent
who was carrying them on passes. Others of this city would
go in clubs of fifty and a hundred at a time in order to get
reduced rates. They usually left on Wednesday and Saturday
nights. One Wednesday night I went to the station to see
a friend of mine who was leaving. I could not get in the
station, there were so many people turning like bees in a
hive. Officers would go up and down the tracks trying to keep
the people back. One old lady and man had gotten on the train.
They were patting their feet and singing and a man standing
nearby asked, "Uncle, where are you going?" The old man
replied, "Well, son, I'm gwine to the promised land."[48]
"When the laboring man got paid off," said a Jackson, Mississippi,
man, "he bought himself a suit of overalls and a paper valise and
disappeared." Even the young married women refused to wait any longer
than the time required to save railroad fare. It's strange that when
a negro got a notion to leave and he could not sell or give away,
he simply locked up his house and left the key with his neighbor.
Families with $1,000 worth of furniture have been known to sell it for
$150. A negro in Jackson was buying a $1,000 house, on which he had
paid $700. When the "fever" struck the town, he sold it for $100 and
left.
There was related this instance of a number of negro laborers:
On a plantation in south Georgia, where fifteen or more
families were farming as tenants, there had been a great deal
of confusion and suffering among the people because of the
lack of sufficient food and clothing. There were the Joneses,
a family of nine, the Harrisons, a family of ten, and the
Battles, a family of six. No family on the place had an
allowance of more than $25 per month for food and clothing.
When this allowance gave out, nothing could be gotten until
the next month and the tenants dared not leave their farms to
work elsewhere. The owner of this plantation lived in town ten
miles away and only visited the farm about once a week. Much
to his surprise, on one of his weekly visits, he found all the
homes and farms deserted except one. On that were two old men,
Uncle Ben and Uncle Joe, who had been left behind because
they were unable to secure passes. Uncle Ben and Uncle
Joe sorrowfully told the landlord all that had happened,
emphasizing the fact that they were the only ones who had
remained loyal to him. Then they told him their needs. The
landlord, thinking that the old negroes were so faithful,
rewarded them with a good sum of money and left with the
assurance that they would see to the crops being worked. No
sooner had the landlord left than these old men with grips
packed and with the money they had received, boarded the train
to join their companions in the North.[49]
As an example of the irresistible force which characterized the
movement, one old negro made the remark: "I sorter wanted to go
myself. I didn't know just where I wanted to go. I just wanted to git
away with the rest of them." A woman in speaking of the torture of
solitude which she experienced after the first wave passed over her
town, said: "You could go out on the street and count on your fingers
all the colored people you saw during the entire day. Now and then a
disconsolate looking Italian storekeeper would come out in the street,
look up and down and walk back. It was a sad looking place, and so
quiet it gave you the shivers."[50]
In the heat of the excitement families left carrying members
dangerously ill. There is reported one interesting case of a family
with one of its members sick with pneumonia. As soon as the woman
was able to sit up, she was carried away. At St. Louis it was found
necessary to stop because of her condition. Finding that she could
not recover, they proceeded to Chicago, where she died. Several of the
migrants have seen fit to make heroes of themselves by declining to
return to the South even on the advice of a physician. Thus, a certain
minister is said to have refused to be sent home when his physician
had told him there was a possible chance for recovery in his home
in the South. He said that he preferred to die and be buried in the
North.
By the summer of 1916, the exodus from Florida had grown to such
ungovernable bounds that the more stable classes of negroes became
unsettled. A body, representing the influential colored citizens of
the State, wrote the editor of the _New York Age_:[51]
Jacksonville, Fla., August 10, 1916.
To the Editor of the _Age_:
To be brief, I beg to state that the (----) of this city, in
a regular meeting, voted last Monday that I write your paper
asking advice on the subject of migration which is large and
really alarming to the people of this State, for thousands
of people (colored) are leaving this State, going to
Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and New Jersey, where it is
stated they are wanted as laborers in various pursuits. In
your mind and to your knowledge, do you think it is the
best thing for them to do, and are they bettering condition
financially, morally and religiously; even in manhood,
citizenship, etc. Our ---- has been asked by the white and
colored people here to speak in an advisory way, but we
decided to remain silent until we can hear from reliable
sources in the North and East, and you have been designated
as one of the best. So to speak, our city is in a turmoil--in
suspense. You have doubtless heard of the great exodus of
negroes to the North, and we presume you have given it some
thought, and even investigated it. Please give the benefit of
your findings and reasons for your conclusion.
Thanking you in advance for a prompt and full reply to the
corresponding secretary, Yours truly,
Corresponding Secretary.
Caught up in the wave of enthusiasm that swept over the South, these
migrants could not resist the impulse to leave. The economic loss
resulting from their reckless departure expressed in terms of
dollars and cents is another story, and probably can never be even
approximately estimated. What seems of most interest here is that they
were in the frame of mind for leaving. They left as though they were
fleeing some curse; they were willing to make almost any sacrifice to
obtain a railroad ticket and they left with the intention of staying.
What has been described, of course, can not be construed to apply to
every one who left. There were those of the business and professional
classes who were promoted by other motives than those which impelled
the masses of migrants. There were, for example, migrants who in the
South had held positions of relatively high standing by virtue of the
fact that there do exist two institutional standards, the white and
the black. Measured by the requirements of the latter, they stood high
in the respect of the community, but when removed to the North they
suffered in the rank of their occupation. A college president or even
a school teacher had little opportunity in their respective fields
in the North. They had, therefore, migrated because deserted by their
neighbors they were left with a prospect of a diminishing social
importance.
Professional men followed their practice. In Chicago there are
at least six lawyers from Mississippi, with practically the same
clientele. At the height of the exodus, one of these came to Chicago
and secured admission to the bar in order that he might be in a
position to move quickly if his practice were too severely cut down.
Several physicians of the State have remarked that they would now be
in the East or the North if reciprocity with the State of Mississippi
were possible.[52] Business men have been reported to have moved North
for the sole purpose of collecting debts. Others are cooler and more
calculating in preparing to leave. One pharmacist, for instance, plans
to move within the next five years. It is true that some of those who
came in the movement would have come even if no one else had decided
to migrate. The influence of the general state of mind, however, on
the great majority is of most concern in determining the forces behind
the exodus.
Possibly the numbers to leave the South would have been considerably
smaller had there not been existent so universal a readiness to
respond to a call in almost any direction. The causes of this state of
mind are stated elsewhere. What is important here is the behavior of
the persons leaving which exerted such a compelling influence on their
neighbors. The actions are illustrative not only of the contagion
of the movement, but of the fundamental emotions of the negroes who
formed the exodus. Thus it was, for example, that the movement was
called the "exodus" from its suggestive resemblance to the flight of
the Israelites from Egypt, _The Promised Land_, _Crossing over Jordan_
(the Ohio River), and _Beulah Land_. At times demonstrations took on
a rather spectacular aspect, as when a party of 147 from Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, while crossing the Ohio River, held solemn ceremonies.
These migrants knelt down and prayed; the men stopped their watches
and, amid tears of joy, sang the familiar songs of deliverance, "I
done come out of the Land of Egypt with the good news." The songs
following in order were "Beulah Land" and "Dwelling in Beulah Land."
One woman of the party declared that she could detect an actual
difference in the atmosphere beyond the Ohio River, explaining that it
was much lighter and that she could get her breath more easily.[53]
The general direction of the spread of the movement was from east to
west. While efforts were being made to check the exodus from Florida,
the good citizens of Texas were first beginning to note a stir of
unrest in their sections. On the other hand, the march of the boll
weevil, that stripped the cotton fields of the South, was from west to
east. Where there was wide unemployment, depression and poverty as a
result of the great floods in Alabama, the cutting down of the cane
area in Louisiana, the boll weevil in Mississippi, there were to be
found thousands who needed no other inducement save the prospect of
a good job. Indeed, it is alleged by some negroes that the myriads of
labor agents who were said to be operating in the South were creatures
of the imagination of an affrighted Southland; that but few were
actually offering positions in the North; but their success was due to
the overpowering desire on the part of the negroes to go.[54]
In September of 1916 a Georgia correspondent of the _Atlanta
Constitution_ wrote:
For the past two or three weeks I have been receiving two
or more letters daily from people in all sections of Georgia
asking my advice as to the advisability of the colored people
leaving the State in large numbers, as they have been leaving
for the past six months. I think it is a mistake for our
people to sell and practically give their earnings of years
just on a hearsay that they will be given larger salaries and
great advantages in some other part of the country.
It will be remembered that the State of South Carolina was not
immediately affected. It was not until the discussions bearing on the
negro's insecurity and economic state, which accompanied the exodus
in justification of it, had begun to be emphasized as the cause of the
movement that a great exodus took place in the State. The principal
occasion here was the unfortunate lynching of Anthony Crawford. A
negro newspaper with a correspondent in Abbeville said:
The lynching of Anthony Crawford has caused men and women of
this State to get up and bodily leave it. The lynching of Mr.
Crawford was unwarranted and uncalled for and his treatment
was such a disgrace that respectable people are leaving daily.
When they begin to leave in the next few weeks like they have
planned, this section will go almost into hysterics as some
sections of Georgia and Alabama are doing because they are
leaving for the North to better their industrial condition.
Crawford is said to have been worth $100,000 in property. His
wife and five sons have been ordered to leave. Word comes that
neighbors are beginning to leave and the number the first of
the week reached 1,000. The cry now is--"Go north, where there
is some humanity, some justice and fairness." White people
have accelerated the movement for the race to move north.
This, however, accounts principally for the spread of the movement as
accomplished by northern capital which, hitting the South in spots,
made it possible for a wider dissemination of knowledge concerning the
North, and actually placed in the North persons with numerous personal
connections at home. The husbands and fathers who preceded their
families could and did command that they follow, and they in turn
influenced their neighbors. It appears that those who came on free
transportation were largely men who had no permanent interests or
who could afford to venture into strange fields. This indiscriminate
method of many of the transporting agencies undoubtedly made it
possible for a great number of indigent and thriftless negroes simply
to change the scene of their inaction. Yet it is unquestionably true
that quite a large proportion of those who went North in this fashion
were men honestly seeking remunerative employment, or persons who left
through sheer desperation. In the second stage of the movement the
club organizations, special parties and chartered cars did most
perhaps to depopulate little communities and drain the towns and
cities.
This is easily to be accounted for. The free trains, carrying mainly
men, were uncertain. They were operated for brief periods in towns,
but were in such ill favor with the police that passengers were not
safe. The clubs or special parties were worked up by a leader, who was
often a woman of influence. She sought her friends and a convenient
date was appointed Arrangements could also be made with friends in the
North to receive them. The effectiveness of this method is seen in
the fact that neighbor was soliciting neighbor and friend persuading
friend. Women in some of the northern cities, joining these clubs,
assert that no persuasion was needed; that if a family found that it
could not leave with the first groups, it felt desolate and willing to
resort to any extremes and sacrifices to get the necessary fare. One
woman in a little town in Mississippi, from which over half of the
negro population had dribbled away, said: "If I stay here any longer,
I'll go wild. Every time I go home I have to pass house after house of
all my friends who are in the North and prospering. I've been trying
to hold on here and keep my little property. There ain't enough people
here I now know to give me a decent burial."
[Footnote 45: Work, _Report on the Migration from Florida_.]
[Footnote 46: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the
World War_.]
[Footnote 47: _The Chicago Defender_, 1916, 1917.]
[Footnote 48: "Whether he knew what he was going for or not," says
one, "he did not take time to consider. The slogan was 'going north.'
Some never questioned the whys or wherefores but went; led as if, by
some mysterious unseen hand which was compelling them on, they just
couldn't stay. One old negro when asked why he was leaving, replied:
'I don't know why or where I'm going, but I'm on my way.' The northern
fever was just simply contagious; they couldn't help themselves. So
far as I know, and I think I am about right, this fever started in
and around the vicinity of Bessemer, Alabama. One little village,
especially, there was owned by a white man from my home who had gone
there the year before carrying some negroes with him. The negroes
started leaving this village so fast that he wouldn't allow any more
tickets to be sold in this village, but the negroes only scoffed at
this. They left the plantations at night and went to other villages
for tickets. The fever had now begun and, like all other contagious
diseases, it soon spread. I arrived home on May 4 and found my native
town all in a bustle. Now, what was it all about? The next club for
the North was leaving on May 18. The second-hand furniture store
and junk shop were practically overflowing. People were selling out
valuable furniture such as whole bedroom sets for only $2. One family
that I knew myself sold a beautiful expensive home for only $100. In
fact people almost gave away their houses and furnishings. Finally,
the night for the club to leave came and the crowds at the train were
so large that the policemen had to just force them back in order to
allow the people to get on and off. After the train was filled with as
many people as it could hold, the old engine gave one or two puffs and
pulled out, bound for the promised land."
"A very close neighbor of ours," says one, "left for the North. He had
a very small family. He left because his youngest son, who had been
north a few months, came home with a considerable amount of money
which he had saved while on his trip. The father made haste and sold
all he had. His son got him a pass. He said it was far better for him
to be in the North where he could stand up like a man and demand his
rights; so he is there. His daughter Mary remained at home for some
time after the family had gone. She finally wrote her father to send
her a pass, which he did. She had a small boy that was given her. She
was not able to take him and care for him as she would like. Her next
door neighbor, a very fine woman who had no children, wanted a child
so Mary gave it to her. To secure better wages and more freedom his
oldest son went to East St. Louis and remained there until June. Then
he left for Chicago. This family sold their chickens and rented their
cattle to some of the people in that community."--Work and Johnson,
_Report on the Migration during the World War_.]
[Footnote 49: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the
World War_.]
[Footnote 50: Ibid.]
[Footnote 51: _The New York Age_, August 16, 1916.]
[Footnote 52: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.]
[Footnote 53: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.]
[Footnote 54: Work, _Report on the Migration from Alabama_.]