Title: Exploring the Great Migration | Mount Holyoke College
Headings: Exploring the Great Migration
Exploring the Great Migration
The Great Migration seems like a fact of life for every African American. How has it escaped white America’s understanding for so long?
So what is that history? What are the push-and-pull factors that caused the Great Migration?
Did the people who migrated north tend to go to specific cities?
How has the legacy of the Great Migration affected the black community today?
And now there’s a reverse migration?

Content: Because it’s not taught. And it’s not taught because it’s black history. We don’t teach black history in our schools. I’m sure many black people my age and maybe younger who were in elementary school studying social studies, and the only time black people came up was slavery. But who wants to be known only as a slave or enslaved? Now it’s either slavery or civil rights, Martin Luther King, maybe Rosa Parks. But that means movements like the Great Migration don’t get the kind of attention that they should. That’s why people don’t know about it. The American people are woefully uneducated in this. And it’s a problem for all Americans.