The Great Migration
"Our minds and spirits were kept whole and healthy by the tough-skinned black people like Mama and Daddy who came to Minnesota to find a better life. Open segregation and the daily threat of violence were gone and there was the promise that life for their children would be better." -Evelyn Fairbanks, Days of Rondo
Racial discrimination and segregation under "Jim Crow" laws pushed African Americans out of the South. They moved North to escape this oppression and also to find better financial opportunities.
An estimated 6,000,000 African Americans moved out of the South between the years 1915 to 1970, an era now known as the Great Migration. The Great Migration changed the racial landscape of both northern and southern states.
However leaving behind the South did not mean leaving behind discrimination. Instead, African Americans traded in the overt racial issues in the southern states for the more subtle racism in northern states like Minnesota.
An estimated 6,000,000 African Americans moved out of the South between the years 1915 to 1970, an era now known as the Great Migration. The Great Migration changed the racial landscape of both northern and southern states.
However leaving behind the South did not mean leaving behind discrimination. Instead, African Americans traded in the overt racial issues in the southern states for the more subtle racism in northern states like Minnesota.