Excerpt from a report by the National Urban League, 1917:
"The Negroes of the South are not leaving because they are restless... They are going because they have been made to feel that there is no hope for them in the South. They are going because of the low wages, the lack of educational facilities, the crop-lien system, and the constant fear of violence. But they are also drawn by the promise of the North: the industrial jobs left open by the war, the chance to vote, and the hope of social equality."
Based on the excerpt, which of the following best explains how both push and pull factors shaped the demographic shifts of the Great Migration?
- Oppressive conditions like racial terror and disenfranchisement in the South pushed migrants out, while industrial job openings and greater political freedom in the North pulled them in.Answer
- BHigh-paying industrial manufacturing jobs pushed migrants out of the South, while the boll weevil infestation and Jim Crow segregation pulled them into northern cities.
- CThe movement was driven entirely by southern push factors like the crop-lien system, with northern industrial labor demands playing no role in where migrants settled.
- DThe movement was motivated solely by northern pull factors like the Black press and social networks, as southern racial violence had largely subsided by the early twentieth century.
Answer
Oppressive conditions like racial terror and disenfranchisement in the South pushed migrants out, while industrial job openings and greater political freedom in the North pulled them in.
The correct answer accurately distinguishes between the negative conditions in the South that acted as push factors (disenfranchisement, racial violence, crop-lien system) and the positive attractions in the North that acted as pull factors (industrial jobs, voting rights, social opportunities).
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
The interaction of push and pull factors during the Great Migration