Read the following excerpt from a 1917 editorial in The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP:
"The present migration of Negroes from the South is not a temporary restlessness. While the high wages of the northern steel mills and railroads are indeed a powerful magnet, the movement is fundamentally a flight from the denial of basic citizenship, the constant threat of racial terror, and the economic bondage of the crop-lien system."
Based on the excerpt, which of the following best explains how the author conceptualizes the relationship between the factors driving the Great Migration?
- The author argues that while northern industrial wages served as a strong pull factor, the primary catalyst was the desire to escape southern push factors such as racial violence and debt peonage.Answer
- BThe author argues that northern industrial wages were the sole driver of the migration, implying that southern social conditions had no influence on the decision to leave.
- CThe author asserts that the migration was motivated purely by southern push factors, claiming that northern economic incentives did not influence Black southerners.
- DThe author suggests that northern cities generated push factors by actively recruiting southern labor, while southern agricultural conditions functioned as pull factors that kept migrants in the region.
Answer
The author argues that while northern industrial wages served as a strong pull factor, the primary catalyst was the desire to escape southern push factors such as racial violence and debt peonage.
The correct answer accurately reflects the author's argument that while northern industrial opportunities acted as a powerful pull factor, the fundamental drive behind the migration was the push factors of southern racial terror and the crop-lien system.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Analyzing push and pull factors in the Great Migration