THREAD

The Great Migration (1915-1970) of African-Americans out of the Southern U.S. to the cities of the Northern U.S. and West Coast sent shockwaves through the Southern U.S. Their economy had been built on the exploitation of African-American labor which they were now losing.

Though slavery had been abolished generations earlier, the states of the Southern U.S. began restricting the social and economic freedom of African-Americans as soon as the Reconstruction period creating an apartheid society full of neo-slavery practices.

Many employers in the Southern U.S. deluded themselves into thinking the subservience of their African-American employees was because they were happy with the situation and not because they were fearful of the consequences and had no other available options for work, until now.

In the early days of the migration, labor recruiters from the Northern U.S. would come down to recruit African-Americans. So the states of the Southern U.S. began passing laws so restrictive they practically banned legal labor recruiting. Illegal recruiting flourished however.

As labor shortages became tighter they grew even more desperate. Laws were passed enforcing a new form of neo-slavery where African-Americans could be arrested for vagrancy just because they were in their home on a Saturday. The punishment was working in the fields.

Growing increasingly desperate they began to choke of information from the Northern U.S. in hopes of dissuading people from leaving. They even went as far as to rip up tickets and halt or divert trains to prevent African-Americans from leaving.

This had little impact.

Some resorted to 'carrot over stick' approaches, travelling to the Northern U.S. to convince African-Americans that conditions had improved and they should return.

African-Americans remained unconvinced, having endured generations of cheating and brutality from them.

Source:

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson