The Great Migration: How 6 Million Black Americans Changed America Forever
From 1910 & 1970, roughly 6 million Black Americans left the South for industrial cities in the North & West, causing The Great Migration
Black News 
From the Jim Crow South to the streets of Harlem, Chicago and Detroit, the Great Migration reshaped Black America, transformed American culture and helped lay the foundation for generations of artistic, political and social movements. The story of Black America is, in many ways, a story of movement. A journey defined by courage, sacrifice and the pursuit of freedom.
What Was the Great Migration?
Between 1910 and 1970, approximately six million Black Americans left the South in what became known as the Great Migration, one of the largest internal population movements in American history, according to Harvard.
They boarded trains, packed their belongings and headed toward cities promising better jobs, educational opportunities, higher wages and an escape from the racial violence that defined much of Southern life.
But the Great Migration was about more than finding a new place to live. It was about building new communities, creating opportunities for future generations and changing the cultural identity of an entire nation.
From the Harlem Renaissance to Chicago blues, Motown and the Civil Rights Movement, its influence continues to be felt today.
The Great Migration refers to the movement of approximately six million African Americans from the rural South to urban communities in the North, Midwest and West between 1910 and 1970.
Historians generally divide it into two periods. The First Great Migration, spanning 1910 to 1940, saw Black Southerners move primarily to Northern and Midwestern industrial cities seeking employment and greater freedom. The Second Great Migration, between 1940 and 1970, brought another wave of movement, fueled largely by World War II and the expansion of the defense industry, with significant numbers settling in Western cities, like Los Angeles, per PBS SoCal.
While economic opportunity was a major attraction, the decision to leave was also driven by generations of racial discrimination, segregation and violence.
