Fleeing violence and seeking more equality, thousands of black Americans moved to northern cities in what is today known as the Great Migration. There were many reasons for this movement. Socially, black people in the South lacked the ability to protect themselves or their families against the violence of racism. Economically, sharecropping had replaced slave labor. Sharecropping left southern black farmers in a cycle of debt and poverty. Moving to the North could be seen as a political act. It represented a refusal to live by the customs and strict racial order of the South. In the North, black migrants had more freedoms but still faced racist laws and practices. Segregation still affected housing and schools.
How would you classify the Great Migration? *
14 points
A. a political act
B. socially motivated
C. economically motivated
D. all of the above