Script: The Second Great Migration

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Script

The second great migration had African Americans travel from southern rural areas in the United States to cities all over the Unites States. The second great migration started in 1941 and ended in 1970. Not many people could travel due to World War II, but many did travel throughout the United States to escape difficult living situations.

The Second Great Migration began and lasted during and after WW2. African Americans still traveled to cities but for more harsh and difficult reasons. In the Second Great Migration 5 million more African americans traveled to California compared to other major cities.

Between 1940-1950, 1.5 million African Americans traveled from the South to Northern and Western cities. By 1970, 5 million African Americans traveled to cities in California. Cities such as, San Diego, Los Angeles, and San

Francisco.

It was very segregated in the South during this time. There also weren’t a lot of houses available. Jim Crow Laws were very severe and drove millions of African Americans out of the south and into California and other northern cities. Down in the south majority of  African Americans didn’t have much education because they didn’t have enough money for it. There was lots of rigid segregation and discrimination that came with being an African American in the south. In the south, African Americans had very limited opportunities and this led them to migrate. One reason was that there was a massive economic collapse in the southern agricultural employment and that pulled African Americans to travel north and west for better job opportunities.

In the south some African Americans would say, ¨Down here a Negros man´s not as good as a white man's dog.¨ Their living style was very different from African Americans in the north and west and the ones in cities. It was very urban in the cities, more jobs and money, and more money meant more education. A pull for African Americans to move to California, Illinois, New York, etc, was property availability. It was a lot more accessible than trying to own properties in Southern areas.

A pull factor to get African American into the north was voting.

In the north voting was less complicated than in the South. In the south you could vote but African americans had to answer countless questions before they could vote. The north had plenty to offer, many whites who lived in the north were fine with the African Americans migrating there. But of course some did not respect African Americans, so they had their own areas in certain cities, these areas would be called the “ghetto” and it would be in the center of each cities where there were lots of African Americans.

Some struggles African American ran into when living in the cities especially California, were how they adapted to the city. The African americans who traveled were considered “backwards” because people in the south did things “backwards.” The south ran things differently than the north did. The north and western cities were considered more progressive than the south so they went backwards instead of forward. Their customs were a lot different. In the south it was very segregated and Jim Crow laws created more segregation and

discrimination.  

The Second Great Migration was the migration of more than five million African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest and West. The Second Great Migration drew many African Americans into cities across the U.S. The second great migration helped gain more respect for African Americans and the African-American community.