SOURCE, VOLUME, DESTINATION, AND COMPOSITION
The exodus of the Negroes during the years from 1916 to 1918 occurred
with such suddenness and attained such an immense volume that for a
time it appeared to many observers that the whole "Black Belt" was
shifting itself northward. Inasmuch as at the very time this migration
reached its zenith this country had just entered into a state of war
with Germany, it attracted almost nation-wide attention, and from some
quarters the fear was that it would have the effect, either directly
or indirectly, of obstructing the National Government in its
prosecution of the war. Numerous also were the apprehensions of the
economic, political, and social problems that might follow in the wake
of this movement. On almost every hand, therefore, the discussions
concerning this migration became legion, and varying were the opinions
expressed regarding its causes and its probable effects upon the
sections of the country involved and upon the migrants themselves.
It is uncertain as to the exact time when this movement began, because
it was going on some time before any notice was taken of it. It is
known, however, that conditions favorable to its beginning were
manifest shortly after the outbreak of the European War, when, on
account of this catastrophe, immigration practically ceased and
thousands of alien laborers departed for their native lands. This
caused a serious labor shortage in the Northern industries, and in
order to obviate this employers, during the spring of 1915, sent
agents into the South to seek Negro laborers. If, as a result of the
efforts of these agents, Negroes were induced to go North, then the
number of those who moved was so small and in such scattered instances
as to make it unworthy of being called a migration. This view is
taken because it was not until nearly a year afterward that Negroes
began to move in numbers sufficiently large to attract public notice.
The Negro migration in its truest sense, therefore, had its beginning
in 1916 and was precipitated as follows: "A national philanthropic
organization arranged with some Northern tobacco growers to import
Negro students from some of the Southern private institutions for
summer work and early in May, 1916, brought the first two trainloads
from Georgia. Then the agent of a large Northern railroad, taking
advantage of the publicity given this venture, used the name of this
organization to get migrants to come North."[25] Other railroads and
steel mills were also in great need for laborers and thus sent their
agents in the South to solicit labor. These agents moved about through
the States of the South and offered at first free transportation to
the prospective laborers and pictured to them in very glowing terms
the high wages and advantages of the North. This they did not have to
do very long, "for the news spread like wild-fire. It was like the
gold fever in '49. Negroes sold their simple belongings and in some
instances valuable land and property and flocked to the Northern
cities, even though they had no objective work in sight."[26]
Regarding this same point, Mr. Ray Stannard Baker holds that during
the spring of 1916 "trains were backed into Southern cities and
hundreds of Negroes were gathered up in a day, loaded into the cars
and whirled away to the North. Instances are given showing that Negro
teamsters left their horses standing in the streets or deserted their
jobs and went to the trains without notifying their employers or even
going home."[27]
The next question which seems in order is whence came these migrants.
As far as is known up to now they came largely from thirteen of the
Southern States and from those lying mainly east of the Mississippi
River. These States are as follows: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia--the cotton, tobacco, and
sugar cane regions of the South.[28] Of these the States which paid
the heaviest toll in the number of migrants are Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and
Tennessee. In this respect Mississippi stands first, Alabama second,
and Georgia third.[29]
When we come to the consideration of the number of Negroes who left
the South during the course of this movement we find here much
uncertainty. This state of affairs is due partly to the fact that the
very beginning of the movement was unknown to those who might have
been interested in taking a census of those departing and partly to
the fact that perhaps after the movement was known to be in operation
no counting was resorted to because no one believed that the exodus
would amount to anything of importance. When, however, the exodus
reached such proportions as to demand serious attention, steps were at
once taken to ascertain its volume.
Numerical estimates regarding the size of this migration have been
made in different ways.[30] In one case they have been based upon the
statements of observers who have watched trainloads leave the South,
in another they have been based upon the growth of numbers in
different Northern cities, in still another upon records of insurance
companies, and finally upon the number of railway tickets sold to
Negroes. On these bases estimates have ranged from 150,000 to upwards
of 750,000. To illustrate this, a few examples will be cited. Dr. W.
E. B. Du Bois estimated that 250,000 Negroes had migrated to the North
during 1916-17.[31] The estimate of the Colored Citizens' Patriotic
League was 300,000,[32] and that of the Chairman of the National
League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was 350,000.[33] Dr. James H.
Dillard set the minimum at 150,000 and the maximum at 350,000,[34] and
Mr. Ray Stannard Baker put the number up to 400,000.[35] From these
various estimates given it is at once obvious that no accurate
statement as to the number of Negroes who left the South can be made.
It is known, however, that a very large number must have moved,
because in many instances the Negro population in villages, towns and
counties in some of the Southern States was greatly depleted, while
the same population of Northern urban communities increased from one
to four-fold. The census shows that in 1920 there were in the North
and West only 472,418 more Negroes than there were in those sections
in 1910. It is clear that a smaller number went North, for there was
some natural increase, and we have the fact that many have
returned[36] to warrant the conclusion.
In this discussion of the volume of the migration it may not be out of
place to show how the various States of the South furnished their
quota toward making up this total number of migrants. In this regard
our data are incomplete in that they were compiled some time before
the movement was checked. The following table,[37] however, will give
one some notion as to the number of Negroes who left each State
affected by this movement:
Alabama 90,000 Tennessee 22,632
Virginia 49,000 Kentucky 21,855
North Carolina 35,576 Louisiana 16,912
Mississippi 35,291 Florida 10,291
South Carolina 27,560 Texas 10,870
Arkansas 23,628 Oklahoma 5,836
Georgia 48,897
It has already been indicated that this movement was directed
northward, but for the sake of accuracy it is better to say that it
was directed toward points in the North and West. The movement was on
the whole a great rush on the part of the Negroes to the large cities
and industrial centers of these two sections of the country. Within
these two divisions the Negroes widely distributed themselves, going
as far north as Minnesota and as far west as the Pacific Coast States.
In general the destination points of the migrants were found in the
following States:[41]
California Missouri
Connecticut Nebraska
Delaware New Jersey
Illinois New York
Indiana Ohio
Iowa Oregon
Kansas Pennsylvania
Massachusetts Washington
Minnesota Wisconsin
In this connection there might be raised the question as to the
distribution of these thousands of migrants in these States of the
North and West; and here again it must be stated that complete and
accurate data are lacking, because no thorough study in this regard
has yet been made. We have, however, some partial estimates which will
go to show something of this distribution of the migrants in the
various States. These estimates are for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan and Connecticut.
The number of Negroes who migrated to Pennsylvania is estimated at
84,000. Of this number 33,500 were in Philadelphia and 18,500 in
Pittsburgh. The other 32,000 migrants were scattered in various
numbers in Steelton, Harrisburg, Coatesville, Chester, Johnstown,
Altoona, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Easton, Reading, Erie, Oil City,
Franklin and Stoneboro.[42] As many of these returned home or migrated
to some other point in the North, even the census of 1920 does not
enable one to make an accurate estimate.
The estimated number of migrants in Ohio was 37,000, 10,000 of whom
were in Cleveland and 6,000 in Cincinnati. The other 21,500 were
located in the following cities and towns: Columbus, Dayton, Toledo,
Canton, Akron, Middletown, Chillicothe and Portsmouth. More than 3,000
of them were settled in camps of the Baltimore and Ohio and
Pennsylvania railroads, and with contractors and traction companies in
different places.[43]
The total number of migrants received by New Jersey was 25,000. Of
this number 7,000 were in Newark. Jersey City, Trenton, Wrightstown,
and South Jersey had each 3,000. Bayonne, Paterson and Perth Amboy
together received 4,000. The rest were scattered in Camden, Carney's
Point, and in the railroad camps in Jersey City and Weehawken.[44]
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Connecticut have the following
estimates: Between 1916 and 1918, 23,320 migrants went to Indiana,
most of whom stopped in Indianapolis and Evansville;[45] 24,390 found
their way to Michigan and settled for the most part in Detroit;[46] in
Illinois, 24,000 were in Chicago alone;[47] and in Connecticut the
city of Hartford reported 3,200 newcomers among its Negro
population.[48]
In order to obtain a comprehensive view of any migration something
should be known about its composition as well as its volume. As
regards this particular movement it can be said that first of all it
was a mass movement and not a movement of Negro leaders. It was
composed of the large numbers of Negro laborers and artisans who,
being very sorely pressed by adverse economic and social conditions,
as will be shown later on, refused to seek the advice of their
leaders, but pushed forward of their own accord with a determination
to find the way for themselves.[49] This great mass, from the
standpoint of habitation, was made up of two separate and distinct
classes,[50] namely, rural and urban. The rural class was by far the
most ignorant, owing to the lack of educational advantages in the
rural districts of the South. They were for the most reared upon farms
and their occupation was that of farm labor. It is said also that from
this class came the majority of the Negroes who migrated from the
South.[51]
On the basis of the economic, social and moral status, moreover, the
members of this movement were composed of three types.[52] The first
type consisted of the less responsible characters, the younger men,
mostly single, who immediately responded to the promises of high wages
and of free transportation made by labor agents. It was undoubtedly
the presence of this type in such large numbers in the North that led
Professor F. D. Tyson, of the University of Pittsburgh, to the
conclusion that the outstanding fact of the Negro migration from the
South was that it was preponderately a movement of single men; and
certainly 70 or 80 per cent of the migrants in the Northern States
were without family ties, as is evidenced by the advanced reports of
the Bureau of the Census showing a change of sexual ratio of the
population of some Southern States.[53] Thousands of this type were
imported by the railroads to the North, but they proved to be very
unreliable workers. They did not stick to their work but moved from
place to place, thus furnishing in industry what some have termed the
"floaters" or "birds of passage."
The second type was composed of industrious, thrifty, unskilled
workers.[54] These for the most part were men with families or other
dependents. It was the custom for the men to go ahead first, earn
money, and at the same time observe conditions to ascertain whether
they were favorable enough to warrant their sending for their families
to join them in the North. If things were favorable, their families
soon followed. Many of these, because of hard working and living
conditions in the South, were forced to accept, ready, free
transportation and promises of work and of high wages just as did the
members of the first type. A good many of them, however, had small
savings which they used to pay their travelling expenses. In some
cases, in leaving their homes, the migrants departed from the usual
custom of the men going ahead and leaving the families behind, by
taking their wives and children to the North with them in the
beginning; in others, only the wives accompanied their husbands, while
the children were left behind with relatives or friends to be sent for
at some future time.
In the next place, the third type of migrants consisted of a rather
small group of skilled artisans, business and professional men who
shared the dissatisfaction and restlessness of the common
laborers.[55] For this group, moving from the South became a necessity
because the migration had deprived it of the patronage of the rank and
file from which its means of subsistence had been derived. Many of
these, however, were in good circumstances, having been in possession
of good positions, cash money and considerable property. That this was
the case the following citations will show: In regard to the economic
condition of the Negroes leaving Alabama, the Birmingham _Age-Herald_
said, "It is not the riff-raff of the race, the worthless Negroes, who
are leaving in such large numbers. There are, to be sure, many poor
Negroes among them who have little more than the clothes on their
backs, but others have property and good positions which they are
sacrificing in order to get away at the first opportunity."[56] It is
also reported that highly skilled Negro workmen went to Michigan,
Ohio, and Massachusetts with fairly large sums of money from the sale
of their possessions in the South.[57] A study of the financial
conditions of 2,500 Negro migrants upon their arrival in Coatesville,
near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, furthermore, revealed that many had
brought with them sums ranging from $50 to $150, realized from selling
their homes in the South. Their desire was to purchase new homes in
Philadelphia, but in this they were disappointed, because very few
houses were available for sale or rent.[58] Migrants of this type
gladly sacrificed their means and earnings to leave the South, feeling
that by so doing they were making an advance to a life of greater
freedom.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] Tyson, F. D., _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, Rep. U. S. Dept. of
Labor, p. 121.
[26] Pendleton, H. B., _Survey_, 37: 569, Feb. 17, 1917.
[27] Baker, Ray S., _World's Work_, 34: 315, July, 1917.
[28] _Lit. Digest_, 54: 1914, Jn. 23, 1917.
[29] Dillard, James H., _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, Rep. U. S. Dept.
Lab., p. 11.
[30] Haynes, G. E., _Survey_, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.
[31] _The Crisis_, 14: 63-66, June, 1917.
[32] Horwill, H. W., _Contemp. Rev._, 114: 299, Sept., 1918.
[33] _Ibid._, p. 299.
[34] _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, Rep. U. S. Dept. Lab., p. 11.
[35] Baker, R. S., _World's Work_, 34: 315, July, 1917.
[36] Haynes, G. E., _Survey_, 40: 116, May 4, 1918
[37] _Lit. Digest_, 54: 1914, June 23, 1917.
[38] Dillard, J. H., _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, U. S. Rep. Dept.
Lab., p. 11.
[39] _Ibid._, p. 11.
[40] _Ibid._, p. 11.
[41] Scott, E. J., _Negro Migration During The War_, p. 71.
[42] Tyson, F. D., _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, U. S. Dept. Lab., p.
157.
[43] _Ibid._, pp. 157-8.
[44] _Ibid._, pp. 157-8.
[45] _Negro Migration_, Rep. Home Missions Council, Jan., 1919.
[46] _Ibid._
[47] Tyson, F. D., _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, U. S. Dept. Lab., p.
117.
[48] Wright, J. A., _Letter on Conditions Among Negro Migrants in
Hartford_.
[49] Du Bois, W. E. B., _Survey_, 38: 227, June 2, 1917.
[50] Edens, B. M., _Survey_, 38: 511, Sept. 8, 1917.
[51] _Ibid._
[52] Haynes, G. E., _Survey_, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.
[53] _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, Rep. U. S. Dept. of Lab., p. 145.
[54] Haynes, G. E., _Survey_, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.
[55] _Ibid._, May 4, 1918.
[56] _Survey_, 38: 227, Je. 2, 1917.
[57] _Ibid._, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.
[58] _Ibid._, 38: 28, April 7, 1917.