First class service, Second class citizenship-The Great Migration

The great migration in America, is a term for really two blocs of African Americans leaving the southern United States, for western and northern cities. While the large number of push factors draw the most study, not many sources look at the pull factors. The lack of study of pull factors is likely down to Americans having relatively few examples of mass migration within its borders. So naturally we want to know what made people leave vs what brought people to California, or New York. As a young nation, most migrations that have entered the mainstream American consciousness happened during the 18th and 19th centuries, and were mostly connected to manifest destiny or inspired it.  Here in this blog we will discuss both the pull and push factors that caused this mass exodus of African Americans from the South, in a point by point style.

Push
The often discussed push factors of the great migration, can be traced back to not only slavery, but the utter failure of reconstruction in the South. After a short period of political empowerment African Americans were subjected to one of the most intricate forms of legalized discrimination the world has ever seen. These push factors include:
-The Jim Crow Laws: Jim Crow laws were designed specifically to socially,economically and politically stifle blacks
- Voter suppression while part of the Jim Crow laws, was also done in an extrajudicial fashion. This was done by mobs and hate groups (mentioned soon) intimidating black towns and neighborhoods.
-Hate groups/organizations like the Klu Klux Klan not only terrorized African Americans, but in 1925 the Klan had as many as 4 million members and, in some states, considerable political power.
-Circle back to the political issues, African Americans and Tejanos of Texas were forced to live in cities, towns and states that were literally run by the Klan

Pull Factors
The less discussed parts of the great migration are, less discussed because in many seem obvious. However it would be a disservice to simplify the complexity of the situation by just saying well, the North and California, did not have Jim Crow Laws. That would be in fact false, as the one of  last cities to desegregate their schools in the United States was in fact Boston Massachusetts from 1974-1988.
- Yes, the lack of obvious threat to ones safety based on the color of your skin. (It has to be said.)
- Enclaves, the Great migration occurred in waves, thus  black enclaves formed. This led to cities like Chicago, and New York attracting African Americans in large numbers, who knew someone already there.
-Employment, both Chicago and Oakland served as terminals for the rail lines.
            I.African American men found work as porters on the sleeping cars, and became known as "Pullman Porters." These very jobs created a new phenomenon in America, a black working and middle class. Its union also created a bloc of political power African Americans had not seen since reconstruction.

Article can be found here
Brief intro to the Pullman Porters can be found here