During the first few decades of the twentieth century there was an upsurge in African American mobility in the United States. Scholars refer to this demographic shift as the “Great Migration” of African Americans, in which African Americans moved out of southern states to northern cities, and to a lesser extent to the west coast, between 1910 and 1970. According to studies on the Great Migration, the mass exodus of blacks from the South was propelled by Jim Crow policies that exacerbated the black experience of racial oppression, racial violence, and economic hardships. In other words, black migrants who fled the South did so with the belief that social and economic opportunities waited for them in places like Chicago and Detroit. Although
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According to the historian Gerald Horne, many African-American colonization schemes of this period were unsuccessful due to the exploitation of black immigrants by colony boosters and developers. In the late 1800s, the New York Times reported that blacks were immigrating to Mexico and settling in agricultural colonies to escape Jim Crow policies and racial violence. However, according those reports, the colonies proved to be nothing more than a ploy by U.S. labor contractors to attract laborers to plantations in Mexico. According to one historian, three thousand black men from Alabama migrated to Durango with the impression that they would be colonists of an agricultural colony. However, rather than becoming colonists working toward social and economic prosperity, the men became sharecroppers in a cotton plantation with poor living conditions. Many men in the plantation died of small pox, and the surviving immigrants returned to the United …show more content…
The article in El Imparcial intended to alleviate Mexican concerns regarding the arrival of black immigrants to Mexican soil. On 11 February 1911, the Chicago Defender printed a translated version of that story, which assured Mexican citizens that arriving black colonists were “not be pernicious vagabonds.” Rather, these men and women could “bring small capital” with them to cultivate their fields. More importantly, African-American immigrants would “invest their money in our country, will work honestly, and that is all that is necessary.” However, plans for African-American colonies in Mexico were disrupted by the violence of the Mexican
According to the historian Gerald Horne, many African-American colonization schemes of this period were unsuccessful due to the exploitation of black immigrants by colony boosters and developers. In the late 1800s, the New York Times reported that blacks were immigrating to Mexico and settling in agricultural colonies to escape Jim Crow policies and racial violence. However, according those reports, the colonies proved to be nothing more than a ploy by U.S. labor contractors to attract laborers to plantations in Mexico. According to one historian, three thousand black men from Alabama migrated to Durango with the impression that they would be colonists of an agricultural colony. However, rather than becoming colonists working toward social and economic prosperity, the men became sharecroppers in a cotton plantation with poor living conditions. Many men in the plantation died of small pox, and the surviving immigrants returned to the United …show more content…
The article in El Imparcial intended to alleviate Mexican concerns regarding the arrival of black immigrants to Mexican soil. On 11 February 1911, the Chicago Defender printed a translated version of that story, which assured Mexican citizens that arriving black colonists were “not be pernicious vagabonds.” Rather, these men and women could “bring small capital” with them to cultivate their fields. More importantly, African-American immigrants would “invest their money in our country, will work honestly, and that is all that is necessary.” However, plans for African-American colonies in Mexico were disrupted by the violence of the Mexican