How many Black people moved to cities during the Great Migration?

How many Black people moved to cities during the Great Migration?

• A. About 500,000.
• B. More than 2 million, with an additional 3 to 4 million following in the 1940s through 1960s.
• C. 10 million.
• D. 100,000.

Answer: (B)

The question tests understanding of how large the Great Migration was—the major movement of Black Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and West during the 20th century. Historically, there were two big waves. In the first wave, more than two million people left the rural South for northern and western cities between 1916 and 1940, drawn by industrial job opportunities and the chance to escape harsher Jim Crow laws. In the following decades, from the 1940s through the 1960s, another three to four million moved, continuing to seek work and a different social environment. When you add those movements together, you’re talking several million people relocating, which matches the option describing more than two million in the first wave plus three to four million in the later period. The other choices are too small or too large to fit the well-documented scale of this migration.

The question tests understanding of how large the Great Migration was—the major movement of Black Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and West during the 20th century. Historically, there were two big waves. In the first wave, more than two million people left the rural South for northern and western cities between 1916 and 1940, drawn by industrial job opportunities and the chance to escape harsher Jim Crow laws. In the following decades, from the 1940s through the 1960s, another three to four million moved, continuing to seek work and a different social environment. When you add those movements together, you’re talking several million people relocating, which matches the option describing more than two million in the first wave plus three to four million in the later period. The other choices are too small or too large to fit the well-documented scale of this migration.