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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - III. Population and Migration - 8. Migration - 3. The Great Migration to the Urban North
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Chapter 8. Migration 195
and better schools, but they could more easily earn the money to go to
them. Many Negroes also felt they could no longer tolerate their subor-
dinate and restricted position. Both the fact and the myth of Northern
equality played a role in stimulating some Negroes to go North. Such
Negroes were usually those who had some taste of a society in which their
position was not so low—such as those who read books or corresponded
with Northern friends, or those who had served in the United States Army
during the World War. The general freedom, excitement, and anonymity
of city life also attracted many rural Southern Negroes. A small number
of Negroes went North because they found themselves fersona non grata
with Southern whites for one reason or another.
There were a number of things which retarded migration. Even the
Great Migration during and after the World War brought only a small
proportion of Southern Negroes to the North. Perhaps a majority of them
were not even considering migrating. Except during the war boom,
Negroes realized that there were only a limited number of jobs in the
North. Owners of Northern industry were not very willing to hire Negro
workers except when orders were pilling up, and European immigrant
laborers could not be had because of the War or legal restrictions on immi-
gration. Northern industrialists often believed in the stereotype of the
lazy and inefficient Negro, and often their limited observations strengthened
their belief. Some had the legitimate doubt whether Negroes, used to
forced labor on farms, could be adapted to free labor in factories. Too,
they did not wish to offend their white workers, who were in the majority.
Most white unions, faced with Negroes coming into their industries, fought
the Negroes j
and white workers generally opposed black competition. On
the other hand, some Negroes were, or felt they were, fairly well estab-
lished economically in the South. In some cases the economic tie was
actually a chain. In the turpentine industry, for example, Negroes worked
and lived in isolated camps, and were forced to buy in company stores.
The owners, in order to maintain a steady and cheap labor supply, saw
to it that the Negro laborers ran into debt, and connived with the law-
enforcement agencies to prevent Negroes from escaping that debt.
There were not only economic ties, but also all sorts of social ties. Few
persons like to leave permanently their families and friends and places
familiar to them to go to a strange place. This fear of the unknown was
enhanced by the stories that grew up about the North as a lawless and
licentious place. It was—^being North—a cold place, where Negroes—^being
used to warm climates—died in droves. A few migrants disliked the North
so much that they returned South, and discouraged their friends.^^ Then,
too, many Negroes did not know how to go about getting a train ticket,
and others did not have enough money to buy one.
Negro leaders were divided as to the desirability of a northward migra-
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