Produced by Suzanne Shell, Andy Schmitt and PG Distributed Proofreaders
[Transcriber's note: The spelling inconsistencies of the original arepreserved in this etext.]
Carter G. Woodson
In treating this movement of the Negroes, the writer does not presume tosay the last word on the subject. The exodus of the Negroes from the Southhas just begun. The blacks have recently realized that they have freedomof body and they will now proceed to exercise that right. To presume,therefore, to exhaust the treatment of this movement in its incipiency isfar from the intention of the writer. The aim here is rather to directattention to this new phase of Negro American life which will doubtlessprove to be the most significant event in our local history since theCivil War.
Many of the facts herein set forth have seen light before. The effort hereis directed toward an original treatment of facts, many of which havealready periodically appeared in some form. As these works, however, aretoo numerous to be consulted by the layman, the writer has endeavored topresent in succinct form the leading facts as to how the Negroes in theUnited States have struggled under adverse circumstances to flee frombondage and oppression in quest of a land offering asylum to the oppressedand opportunity to the unfortunate. How they have often been deceived hasbeen carefully noted.
With the hope that this volume may interest another worker to the extentof publishing many other facts in this field, it is respectfully submittedto the public.
Washington, D.C., March 31, 1918.
I.—Finding a Place of Refuge
II.—A Transplantation to the North
III.—Fighting it out on Free Soil
IV.—Colonization as a Remedy for Migration
V.—The Successful Migrant
VI.—Confusing Movements
VII.—The Exodus to the West
VIII.—The Migration of the Talented Tenth
IX.—The Exodus during the World War
Map Showing the Per Cent of Negroes in Total Population, by States: 1910
Diagram Showing the Negro Population of Northern and Western Cities in1900 and 1910
Maps Showing Counties in Southern States in which Negroes Formed 50 Per
Cent of the Total Population
The migration of the blacks from the Southern States to those offeringthem better opportunities is nothing new. The objective here, therefore,will be not merely to present the causes and results of the recentmovement of the Negroes to the North but to connect this event with theperiodical movements of the blacks to that section, from about the year1815 to the present day. That this movement should date from that periodindicates that the policy of the commonwealths towards the Negro must havethen begu