CHAPTER 34

MIGRATION PREVIOUS TO 1914

Movement of the Negro During the Days of Slavery-Escape of Runaways to Free Soil-Attraction of Free Negroes to the West and to the Industrial Centers in the South-Trend of Negro Migration after the Civil WarExodus to the West in 1879-Movement from the Farms to the TownsConcurrent Migration of Negroes and Whites to the North and West

TH

HE migration of the Negroes on their own initiative began during the days of slavery. It first took the form of flight by runaways, who generally fled in the direction of the free states, most of the fugitives going into Ohio. It is estimated that about 40,000 slaves escaped to Ohio from 1830 to 1860. By way of the "underground railroad" about 15,000 fugitives during the same period passed through the free states and pressed on to Canada, settling in towns of southern Ontario.

In addition to the runaway slaves, the free Negroes in the South moved about on their own initiative, and were actuated by the same motives as the migrating white people. Many of them were attracted by the gold craze to California in the fifties. The free Negro population of that State increased from 962 in 1850 to 4,086 in 1860.

Other free Negroes followed the movement of white people toward the more rapidly developing states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri.

The movement of the free Negroes within the South was generally towards the more notably industrial states, where the development of large towns offered better employment in the handicrafts. For instance, there was a movement of the free Negroes of Florida into the towns of Louisiana, and from Mississippi and Arkansas into the towns of Missouri and Kansas.

The movement of free Negroes, however, was never considerable in any Southern state. A large proportion of free Negroes owned land or houses and were disinclined to migrate. For illustration, in all the Southern states, except Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, and Texas, the population of free Negroes was greater in 1860 than in

1850; and in the four states with fewer free Negroes in 1860 the total diminution was only 663.

The movement of free Negroes to Liberia, between 1820 and 1852, through the efforts of the American Colonization Society, numbered 7,836.

After the emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies in the thirties, there was an acute shortage of labor, and the attention of the free Negroes in the United States was directed to that region as especially inviting to Negro immigrants. The planters of these islands sent agents to the United States in search of Negro labor. In 1834, one of these from Trinidad induced 200 Negroes from New York to accompany him to that island. Later about twenty free Negroes went there from Maryland, and 160 went from Pennsylvania.1

Agents from Jamaica and other islands visited this country in the interest of Negro immigration, but met with very little success. Other islands of the West Indies also were supposed to offer good opportunities for Negroes of the United States. In 1836, Z. Kingsley, a white planter of Florida, purchased 35,000 acres of land, near Port Plate, in northeastern Haiti, and established a plantation there under the direction of his mulatto son, George. In order to supply the labor for the plantation, Kingsley sent over six Negro men whom he emancipated. A year later he visited the plantation and brought with him his mulatto son's wife and children, and the wives and children of the six Negro servants, and also ten additional families of slaves, liberated for the purpose of transportation to Haiti. The Negroes on this plantation were enjoying good health and prosperity, according to the last accounts, but no additional immigrants had arrived.

In 1853 the free Negroes in the North launched an emigration movement toward the Niger Valley in Africa. They sent an agent to negotiate with African kings for territory, and in 1861 a shipload of 2,000 emigrants set sail for Africa. Owing to lack of capital, unhealthy climate and other causes, two-thirds of the emigrants returned to the United States.

During the Civil War there was a large and confusing movement of Negroes within the lines of the Federal troops, but it was deter

'Woodson, A Century of Negro Migration, p. 78.

mined by forces which the Negro did not control, and therefore, does not throw any light on the Negro's migratory tendency.

In 1879 there was a great exodus of Negroes from the South to the West, chiefly from the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, to Kansas. Within a period of two years about 60,000 Negroes left the Lower South for Kansas and other points in the West. This immigration was not encouraged nor even welcomed by the people of the West. In fact, Kansas sent agents into the South to warn the Negroes against coming. When, however, the Negroes arrived in Kansas the white people there were disposed to protect them and lend them a helping hand. The hospitality of the people of that state was greatly overtaxed by the hordes of incoming Negroes. Unable to find employment, and being without resources, the immigrants suffered greatly from cold and hunger, and had to be relieved by public charity. In one year the people of Kansas donated for the relief of the sufferers $40,000, and about 500,000 pounds of clothing and bedding. England sent $8,000 and 50,000 pounds of goods.*

A measure of permanent relief was effected by inducing a portion of the immigrants to settle on land. Local charities offered tools, teams, and supplies to Negroes who took up land. About 30,000 Negroes settled on land as proprietors, tenants, and laborers."

The causes of this migration were partly economic and partly political. The low price of cotton and partial failure of the crop had brought disaster to both Negroes and whites in the Lower South. At the same time, the propaganda of emigration leaders created a general belief among the colored people that the West offered them golden opportunities.

The political conditions in the Lower South were discouraging from the standpoint of the Negro. The Reconstruction régime had just been overthrown by means of the Ku Klux and other forms of intimidation, and the Negroes had not only lost control of the states, but were kept away from the polls and subjected to a severity of repression and roughness of treatment which aroused widespread re

sentment.

The migration of the Negroes from 1879 to the World War followed the general trend of the migration of both Negroes and whites during that period. There has been a steady movement of both races from the rural districts to the towns and cities. From 1860 to 1870, 'Woodson, op. cit., p. 141.

'Ibid., p. 142.

the increase in number of Negroes in Southern cities was greater than that of the whites, due to the uprooting of the rural Negro as a result of the war, but, since the latter date, the white people have moved more rapidly towards the towns and cities than the Negroes. From 1900 to 1910 the white increase in Southern cities was 7.7 percent more than that of the Negro. In this trend toward the cities both races have been influenced by the same cause, namely, the more rapid growth of industry as compared to agriculture. Low prices of farm products, and the constantly deteriorating soils, have deterred the more enterprising men from the pursuits of agriculture, while the cities, by reason of their rapidly developing trades and manufactures, have offered tempting opportunities to the wage-earner and the capitalist. The increase of manufactured products in sixteen Southern cities from 1880 to 1905 was 143.3 percent.

Along with this migration of white people toward the Southern cities, there has been a concurrent migration of white people from the Southern states to the Northern and Western states, where the greater industrial development has offered not only higher nominal wages, but a greater diversity of occupations. From the Civil War to the World War the white South lost an immense asset in the migration of her aspiring young men to other sections of the country.

Concurrent with the white migration to the North and West there has been for the same reasons a migration of Negroes, but of a less proportionate extent. The Negro migrants to the North and West prior to the World War were mostly of the servant class from Southern towns, and were enticed away by the prospect of higher wages.

"In the economic movement to the Northern cities," says Haynes, "the activity of employment agencies (especially for female domestic help) with drummers and agents in Southern communities, has served to spread tales of high wages, and to provide transportation for large numbers. Again, many who have been to the urban centers return for visits to their more rural home communities with show of better wages in dress, in cash, and in conversation.

"The conclusion of the matter, therefore, is that the Negro is responding to the call of commerce and industry, and is coming to the urban centers under economic influences similar to those that move his fellows." 8

'Haynes, The Negro at Work in New York City, p. 15.

'Ibid., p. 16.

8 Ibid., p. 29.