Great Migration

I just begin to feel like a man. It's a great pleasure in knowing that you have got some privilege. My children are going to the same school as whites and I don't have to umble to no one. I have registered—Will vote the next election and there isn't any "yes sir" and "no sir."

—Author unknown, from Letters of Negro Migrants of 1916–1918

What began as a trickle soon turned into a mass movement of African Americans known as the Great Migration [Great Migration: beginning during World War I, the mass movement of millions of African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and Midwest in order to take jobs in industry] . Chicago, New York City, Cleveland, and other cities saw an explosion of black residents. Whites suddenly found themselves competing with blacks for jobs and housing. In some places, racial tensions sparked riots.