The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921

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.465 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 1916-17.466 The estimate of the Colored Citizens' Patriotic League was 300,000,467 and that of the Chairman of the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was 350,000.468 Dr. James H. Dillard set the minimum at 150,000 and the maximum at 350,000,469 and Mr. Ray Stannard Baker put the number up to 400,000.470 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 returned471 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,472 however, will give one some notion as to the number of Negroes who left each State affected by this movement:

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:473

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.474 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.475

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.476

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;477 24,390 found their way to Michigan and settled for the most part in Detroit;478 in Illinois, 24,000 were in Chicago alone;479 and in Connecticut the city of Hartford reported 3,200 newcomers among its Negro population.480

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.481 This great mass, from the standpoint of habitation, was made up of two separate and distinct classes,482 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.483

On the basis of the economic, social and moral status, moreover, the members of this movement were composed of three types.484 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.485 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.486 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.487 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."488 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.489 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.490 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.

Chapter IV

CAUSES OF THE RECENT NEGRO MIGRATION

In the study of the migration of any group or groups of mankind a consideration of its causes is highly important, because it seems that therein largely lies much of the significance of the movement. It has already been seen that for every migration there must be some definite cause, since man always moves in response to a rational impulse. Moreover, we saw that the cause must be a very powerful one, because it is the tendency of men to become attached to the locality in which they find themselves. In the investigation of this particular movement under consideration, we are, therefore, justified in seeking to know its causes; and this seems the more legitimate because we desire greatly to know why it was that at this particular time, perhaps more, or, at least, as many Negroes left their Southern homes for points in the North and West than did through a series of migrations which had been in progress for forty years.

The fundamental and immediate cause of this Negro exodus is economic, the basic and predominant cause of most of the movements of modern times. Its sudden occasion had its origin in the great labor shortage at the North, which was due to conditions growing out of the European War. This great war had the effect of cutting off the large and accustomed immigration stream from Europe and of withdrawing from this country thousands of foreign-born residents who were needed in the service of their respective native lands. Northern employers who had been dependent on them for their labor soon faced a serious shortage of labor, on the one hand, while, on the other, they saw their contracts with European concerns for war supplies increase tremendously. Being hard pressed for labor, these owners and operators of the various industrial enterprises, as a last resort, turned to the South and began to solicit Negro labor in order to meet their demands. Thus a Negro exodus from the South was started, and we say that the cause of it was economic. This statement, however, does not adequately cover the ground, because, as has already been seen, a migration is usually the result of the operation of a complexity of causes and not the result of any one cause. Therefore, we shall say that this Negro movement was due to the workings of a complication of economic and social causes, but that of these causes the economic were overwhelmingly predominant.

In studying the forces or causes which were behind this movement, we find that they group themselves under two categories, namely, attractive and repellent. In this migration the Negroes were to a large extent both drawn and driven to break the ties which bound them to their respective localities. One has said that these causes may be grouped as beckoning and driving causes, the former arising from conditions in the North and the latter from conditions in the South.491 The beckoning causes are as follows: high wages, little or no employment, a shorter working day than on the farm, less political and social discrimination than in the South, better educational facilities, and the lure of the city.492 On the other hand, we have these given as the driving causes: "General dissatisfaction with conditions, ravages of boll-weevil, floods, change of crop system, low wages, poor houses on plantations, inadequate school facilities, unsatisfactory crop settlements, rough treatment, cruelty of the law officers, unfairness in courts, lynching, the desire for travel, labor agents, the Negro press, letters from friends in the North, and finally advice of white friends in the South, where crops had failed."493 At this juncture a specific consideration of these latter causes as they were operative in three of the Southern States will now be made. These States referred to are those which were foremost in contributing to the movement and are, namely, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

The causes of migration from Alabama494 were in the main economic. In the first place the opportunities afforded Negroes to earn their subsistence were greatly curtailed by the boll-weevil pest which swept over the State a few years ago. In the black belt counties cotton had been for several generations the sole crop, and its cultivation wholly dependent upon Negro labor. On the other hand, the Negroes were dependent upon the landowners or overseers for money for their subsistence. In the meantime the Negro farmers and laborers were never taught or encouraged to raise any crop other than cotton. When the boll-weevil pest came and made the raising of cotton an impossibility, it became necessary to shift from the cotton crop to another which was not liable to be troubled by the weevil pests. While the transition was being made, however, the prices of cotton fell considerably and thus made it very difficult for landowners and Negro farmers to borrow money at a reasonable rate of interest. The outcome was that the Negroes suffered much in their struggle to maintain themselves.

Secondly, in 1916 there was a serious crop shortage due to floods. During the spring and summer of that year the rivers overflowed their banks and the water therefrom destroyed the crops throughout a large portion of the state. This made it necessary for both farmers and tenants to find other means of livelihood. The customary advances in money and provisions to the Negro tenants were cut off and in many cases the owners of large plantations were compelled to advise their Negro laborers to move away. In other cases Negroes were so deeply in debt for provisions furnished them during the past winter, for rent and other causes that they were forced to forfeit their mules and other property in payment of these debts. These conditions brought on so much suffering among the Negroes that some sunk to the depths of starvation and had to be given food by the Federal Government, through the Department of Agriculture, and also by the Red Cross organization.

In the next place, shortage of railroad cars was another prominent factor in causing migration from this State. Officials of railroad companies reported that fully half the miners who left the Birmingham districts did so because the companies were unable to obtain cars. In June, 1917, the chairman of the Birmingham District Subcommittee on Car Service stated that more than 7,000 cars of manufactured products had accumulated for shipment in the district.495 Also, certain lumber companies were forced to reduce the number of their employees on account of the impossibility of getting their lumber products removed from the yards. The shortage of cars, therefore, necessitated the discharge of many men and at the same time prevented the employment of additional laborers.

There was, moreover, a great demand for labor in the North, rendered effective by offers of higher wages than those paid in Alabama. There was at this time too a great surplus of labor throughout those sections affected by the boll-weevil, floods, and shortage of cars, which was ready to respond to this demand. This demand was made known to the migrants by Northern labor agents who played the part of middlemen in this exodus. The migration, through them, was made easy by the furnishing of free transportation and by the making of glowing promises to the Negro migrants.

Another potent influence was that of the persuasion of friends and relatives already in the North. In 1917, when an investigation of the movement was made, it was found that this was the principal influence operating to move the Negroes to the North. Former residents of some of the rural districts of the South who had gone North and secured a foothold wrote letters back to their friends and relatives telling them of their success in the new environment. They depicted in these missives wages which seemed fabulous sums when compared with those received in the South, told of the good conditions of their surroundings, and of numerous advantages and opportunities which they were enjoying, but which had been impossible for them to enjoy while in the South. Negro men, moreover, frequently sent large sums of money to transport their families to the North, and frequently sons in the North sent neat sums back to their parents in the South. These letters containing glowing reports concerning Northern conditions, and the large remittances to relatives and friends, played no small part in inducing thousands to move to try their fortunes in the new environment.

In Georgia496 we find that the migration was due to a complex of economic and social causes in the form of low wages, poor conditions of labor, lynching, minor injustices in the courts and dissatisfaction with educational facilities. In regard to the first cause, it is known that at the time of the migration wages in this State were extremely low. In 1916 some counties paid only $10 and $12 a month for farm labor; others paid $13 and $15 a month for the same kind of labor. After the movement got well started, however, there was a tendency on the part of most of the farmers to advance wages a little, so that some counties showed an average of $14, others $17, and not a few others as much as $20 a month. It should be added that these wages were in most cases supplemented by free housing and sometimes by food.

In another instance it was found that many Negroes left the farming districts because of unsatisfactory labor conditions due to failure on the part of the planters to keep in close touch with their laborers. There was utter neglect on their part to look after certain details of plantation life as they particularly affected the single men. For example, in many cases, no provision was made to have their food properly cooked, their clothes mended, to keep them supplied with fresh meat, to repair the houses in which they lived, and to furnish them with gardens. On the other hand, it was noted that those planters who carefully looked after these details had no difficulty in holding their laborers.

In regard to lynching as a cause of migration from Georgia, it is not easy to state exactly its effect on the movement, because the lynchings which occurred immediately before and during the migration were in the boll-weevil section where the economic conditions were also at their worst. Nevertheless, several planters whose premises were crossed by lynching parties held that their losses in regard to labor were heavier than those of the surrounding plantations because of the state of terror into which their tenants had been thrown by these lawless bands. In two instances occurring respectively in 1915 and 1916, in the boll-weevil section of this State, moreover, lynching parties killed not only the guilty Negroes but also others who were innocent. In another instance the mob, after murdering the criminal and terribly beating and terrorizing many others not implicated in the crime, proceeded across the county and killed the mother and another relative of the accused. These bloody deeds had the effect of developing in the Negroes a feeling of insecurity of life and thus caused them to seek the North as a place of refuge.

Another reason why Negroes left Georgia was the resentment of the minor injustices done to them in the courts. In this State, and in a number of others as well, there prevails a system whereby the county and police officials are compensated by a fee for their services, that is, they are paid so much a head for every man they arrest. The effect of this system is to render these officials overzealous in rounding up Negroes for gambling, drinking and other petty infractions of the law. As punishment for these small violations of the law Negroes are usually sentenced to work on the county roads for certain periods of time. In the rural districts where recreational facilities are wretchedly poor, Negroes feel themselves justified in indulging in these things as means of amusement and, therefore, when they are arbitrarily arrested and severely punished therefor, they feel that gross injustice has been done to them.

The poor educational facilities in Georgia, furthermore, were a source of dissatisfaction which caused many to leave. A recent report on the educational conditions in the State showed that the per capita expenditure in public school teachers' salaries for each white child between six and fourteen years of age is about six times the per capita expenditure for each Negro child between the same ages. It is also a fact that up to 1917 the only provision made by the State for agricultural, industrial, high and normal schools was an appropriation of $8,000 as an aid to the Georgia State Agricultural and Mechanical School, which is largely supported by Federal funds. The Negro teachers, moreover, are poorly trained and their salaries are unusually small.497

The causes for Negro migration from Mississippi498 are significant. In the first place, there was in southeast and east Mississippi a lack of capital for carrying labor through the fall and early winter until time to start a new crop. This lack of capital was brought about by one or more of three causes, namely, a succession of short crops, the more recent advent of the boll-weevil, and a destructive storm in the summer of 1916. In the second place, there was a reorganization of agriculture behind the boll-weevil ravage, which required a smaller number of laborers a hundred acres. In the next place, migration was due to the hunger wages paid in this State. The wages ranged from seventy-five cents on farms in the southwest to one dollar or one dollar and a quarter a day in northern counties. These were wholly inadequate to maintain the Negro laborers in a high state of physical efficiency. The attractions of the Northern urban and industrial centers too were also causes of the movement from Mississippi. These attractions were of two kinds, namely, (1) decidedly higher wages for unskilled labor, and (2) better living conditions, such as housing, which seemed superior to the rough cabins of Southern plantations, better chances of obtaining justice in the courts in cases where both whites and Negroes were involved, better schools than Mississippi afforded, and equality of treatment in public conveyances such as street cars and railway trains.