Internal Migration And Ghettoization In The 19th And 20th Century

The Great Migration during the 19th and 20th centuries sparked significant changes in the United States. The exodus of Southern blacks to the Northeast and Midwest post-emancipation and during the Great Migration reveals the connection between internal migration and ghettoization in the United States. The formation of these ghettos is characterized by the racial prejudice of the era, racially charged violence in the form of race riots, and the development of black culture within the United States. This is best exemplified by the ghettoized Harlem neighborhood of New York City and the South Side of Chicago, or “Bronzeville”. From these ghettos arose two significant periods of thriving African American culture, the Harlem and Chicago/Bronzeville Renaissances, which established the presence of the black community within the intellectual and artistic world. These eras of blooming culture reflect the unique characteristics of the black community and their traditions, as well as the qualities of the ghettos. The products of the Renaissance exhibit the intelligence, creativity, and individuality of African …show more content…
This ghettoization that leads to the Renaissances begins with the Great Migration of the early twentieth century. The Great Migration had a major impact on the racial landscape of the 20th century as southern blacks moved the Northern United States. Prior to the migration, almost the entire African American population was located in the South. Thousands of rural blacks flocked to industrialized areas of the North, with the hopes of attaining employment, better housing opportunities, and to escape the oppression of southern white prejudice and the Jim Crow laws. For many migrants, the settlement in this “Promised Land” did not yield the results they had