The Causes, Effects and Legacies of the Great Migration in the United States: Review and Reflection

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-538-6_21How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Great Migration; African Americans; The 20th Century; United States; Racial Inequality

Abstract

The Great Migration, an unprecedented demographic shift that occurred roughly from the 1910s to the 1970s, involved the relocation of approximately six million African Americans from the Southern United States to the Northern, Midwestern, and Western regions of the country, making it one of the most significant internal migrations in American history. This study is a comprehensive review of scholarly research on the Great Migration. Drawing upon economic, historical, and sociological studies, this review analyzes the complex factors that triggered and sustained the migration, including racial oppression, economic hardships, and pursuit of better paying job opportunities. It also delves into multi-faceted impacts on black migrants, their descendants, and broader American society - highlighting economic gains but also challenges like residential segregation and barriers to upward mobility. Additionally, the review explores the migration’s influence on racial attitudes and political realignment. By identifying gaps in the current literature and proposing areas for further research, this study underscores the enduring relevance of the Great Migration for understanding contemporary issues of racial inequality, urban poverty, and social change in America.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Sangning Chen
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/10/01
TI  - The Causes, Effects and Legacies of the Great Migration in the United States: Review and Reflection
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Economic Development and Business Culture (ICEDBC 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 162
EP  - 176
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-538-6_21
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-538-6_21
ID  - Chen2024
ER  -