The Great Migration Gets Underway: A Comparison of Black Southern Migrants and Nonmigrants in the North, 1920

Objective. This article examines the characteristics of black southern migrants in the North near the beginning of the Great Migration and compares them with northern‐born African Americans. Methods. Data from the newly available 1920 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series file are used to conduct ordinary least squares regression and binary logistic regression analyses that compare migrants and native northerners on: residential characteristics, economic activity, and family patterns. Results. On the one hand, southern migrants, males and females alike, were more likely to report gainful occupations than native northerners. On the other hand, migrants experienced denser housing conditions and held lower‐status jobs than indigenous northerners. No significant differences in home ownership or family patterns were found. Even the statistically significant differences between migrants and northern‐born blacks were quite modest. A supplemental “generational analysis” suggests that the relatively minor disadvantages experienced by migrants in 1920 were probably due to a temporary period of adaptation and dislocation resulting from their geographic mobility. Conclusions. When combined with evidence from later stages in the Great Migration, these findings indicate that black southern migrants fared quite well in the North, relative to native northerners. Thus, the generally negative descriptions of migrants by contemporary observers, and some later researchers, should be viewed skeptically.