Post Civil War Migration of African Americans

African Americans in the South were forced into sharecropping, which kept them in financial bondage. The financial struggles, coupled with continued racism, led many African Americans to pursue work in the North. Many blacks in the south feared violence as well. Additionally, labor shortages due to WWI led factories to recruit in the South, leading to more and more employment of African Americans in industrial sectors, which they had previously been excluded from.

As levels of migration increased, so did white resistance. More and more “black neighborhoods” developed as African Americans faced housing discrimination and were prohibited from renting or purchasing homes in many neighborhoods. As neighborhoods became more and more segregated, living conditions in black neighborhoods deteriorated. Facing a discriminatory housing market, African Americans were forced to pay higher percentages of their earnings for their housing, while landlords let conditions worsen, exacerbated by overcrowding caused by the financial burden of housing in the African American community. The Great Depression worsened the situation for most African Americans, who faced hunger and were forced to turn to public assistance. African Americans faced disproportionate levels of unemployment and therefore, higher levels of enrollment in public assistance. These debilitating circumstances made it very difficult for most African Americans to rise out of poverty-- they faced discrimination at every turn which was worsened by economic conditions that made finding employment difficult, especially for those who were deemed to be at the bottom of the list from the start.

Such conditions created an environment in which African Americans were segregated into substandard housing communities, given fewer opportunities for employment based on the same discriminatory mindsets that refused African Americans affordable housing in well-kept buildings. As the economy worsened, so did prospects of employment and upward mobility. Furthermore, public assistance was not as available to African Americans. These conditions snowballed in a way that created an invisible (to many) hand that served to keep African American communities from rising out of poverty by denying them services, safe living conditions, and employment opportunities. These conditions served to give African Americans a “starting point” which far disadvantaged them and continues to do so today as African Americans continue to face discrimination and unsafe, segregated communities. These conditions make the American Dream unreachable for many black people, who are denied the opportunity to work hard for upward mobility by discrimination in housing, employment, and education.