Today in History: The Great Migration of 1915

Artwork Depicting the Great Migration

On this day in 1915 the Great Migration began. Approximately two million Southern Blacks moved to Northern industrial centers in the following decades. Between the turn of the century and 1930, more than 1 million black southerners set out on one of America’s most important mass movements.

These people migrated from the South’s countryside to the cities in the North.

They hoped to find better jobs, a new sense of citizenship, and a new respect for themselves, their families, and their people in the North.