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I've always heard certain northern & western cities attracted black people from specific states, ie. Mississippians to Detroit, Alabamans to Chicago, Louisianans to Oakland, Texans to L.A. Not sure how much truth there is to it...
Many Louisiana black people esp from N and W La migrated to Oakland and some went to LA. Not quite so many to the midwest and very few toward the NE.
I've always heard certain northern & western cities attracted black people from specific states, ie. Mississippians to Detroit, Alabamans to Chicago, Louisianans to Oakland, Texans to L.A. Not sure how much truth there is to it...
There's a lot of truth to that, actually.4
You see, most people took the train out of the South, and they purchased the cheapest tickets available. Since the cheapest routes were the straight shots, blacks had a tendency to move directly north (Mississippi to Chicago, Carolinas to NYC, Georgia to Detroit, etc) or directly west (Texas to California, etc).
I've always heard certain northern & western cities attracted black people from specific states, ie. Mississippians to Detroit, Alabamans to Chicago, Louisianans to Oakland, Texans to L.A. Not sure how much truth there is to it...
You got these two mixed up. Mississippians went to Chicago and St. Louis and Alabamans went to Detroit, and Ohio. The Carolinas, Georgia, and VA went north to NYC, Philly, and Boston. Texas and Louisiana just went to California. Never heard about the breakdown of Texans to LA and Louisianans to Oakland till now. But it was mostly a straight directional shot.
I don't know, but you have to consider that in 1790 slaves all lived in the east coast states. After the invention of the cotton gin made cotton more profitable, In the 1830s-40s more slaves were moved westward to the Mississippi Valley region.
Are you interested in African-American history? I am somewhat of an authority on the subject. I recently read, and would highly recommend this book about the "great migration" - your local library may have it. The Warmth of Other Suns - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thank you Slowlane3 for recommending book The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. I am currently reading it and it is so interesting.
You got these two mixed up. Mississippians went to Chicago and St. Louis and Alabamans went to Detroit, and Ohio. The Carolinas, Georgia, and VA went north to NYC, Philly, and Boston. Texas and Louisiana just went to California. Never heard about the breakdown of Texans to LA and Louisianans to Oakland till now. But it was mostly a straight directional shot.
Thanks for the correction; the majority of AA Oaklanders do have Louisiana roots, though of course other parts of the South as well. Walter Mosley refers to the Texas-to-LA migration often in his books.
My family in Arkansas and Mississippi stayed down south. Only one aunt, one uncle and a cousin migrated north. Jim crow was the same in the upper south and deep south. I was born in Little Rock Arkansas in 1971 and my parents were classified as colored on my birth certificate. They were treated no different than my family elders in natchez Mississippi.
I was born in Little Rock, too. I don't think there is much difference in that area from Mississippi either; it's probably still part of the Deep South. Definitely not in the same category as Maryland or Kentucky. Maryland never had a governor like Orville Faubus.....
Thanks for the correction; the majority of AA Oaklanders do have Louisiana roots, though of course other parts of the South as well. Walter Mosley refers to the Texas-to-LA migration often in his books.
Very interesting. I did not realize or know that about AA's in California. Of course they came from other Southern states. But the bulk did come from Texas and Louisiana.
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