SECOND GREAT MIGRATION 1940-1970
During the second wave of the Great Migration, from 1940 to 1970, a new and more diverse group of African Americans settled in the North. Some fled the Jim Crow South to escape rigid segregation, discrimination, poverty, the agricultural industry’s collapse, and limited legal protections, while others sought greater economic and educational opportunities (Ballard, 2004; Gregg, 1993; Grossman, 1989; Marks, 1989). “The five million southerners who participated in the Second Great Migration mostly followed pathways that had been established by the generation of southerners who moved North during World War I and the 1920s” (Gregory, 2009, p. 21). By 1950, Philadelphia’s black population rose to 375,000 and peaked at 655,000 in 1970 (Wolfinger, 2013). At the end of the Second Great Migration, African Americans represented one-third of the city’s population. This extraordinary demographic shift precipitated a cultural renaissance and political activism.
As the number of Black residents increased from 1950-1970, Philadelphia’s economy tanked, with the loss of textile, metal manufacturing and electronics production jobs. Racial tensions increased, as newcomers and established Black Philadelphians competed for limited jobs and housing (Wolfinger, 2007). Though the social, political, economic, and cultural changes surrounding the Second Great Migration contain many lessons, scholarship has largely focused on the first wave. Nuanced stories of second wave Black migrants remain untold, with the exception of histories like Wolfinger’s (2007), Philadelphia Divided: Race and Politics in the City of Brotherly Love, and Countryman’s (2007) Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia.
Journey to Sanctuary will focus on several humanities topics and themes that arise from analysis of the second wave of migration, including (1) the impact of explosive population growth on church congregations; (2) the clash of cultures; (3) responses to socioeconomic opportunities and threats; and (4) the cultural renaissance and political activism in Philadelphia that was precipitated by the migration. These topics contribute to our understanding of forces surrounding the migration of people in a larger context, and provide a basis for sharing the content beyond the AME and African American communities. This work can inform debates on immigration in general and responses to anticipated demographic shifts across the United States.