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Black Flight: Lethal Violence and the Great Migration, 1900-1930 Author(S): Stewart E

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Black Flight: Lethal Violence and the Great Migration, 1900-1930 Author(S): Stewart E Black Flight: Lethal Violence and the Great Migration, 1900-1930 Author(s): Stewart E. Tolnay and E. M. Beck Source: Social Science History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Autumn, 1990), pp. 347-370 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1171355 Accessed: 01-01-2016 08:03 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social Science History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 159.178.22.27 on Fri, 01 Jan 2016 08:03:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Black Flight:Lethal Violence and the GreatMigration, 1900-1930 STEWART E. TOLNAY & E. M. BECK AFTER DECADES of relativeresidential stability, southern blacks began migratingin strikingnumbers following the turnof the twentiethcentury. Reconstruction and Redemptionsaw a fair amountof short-distancemovement as blacktenant farmers ex- changedone landlordfor another in searchof favorablefinancial arrangements.Some blacksmoved across state lines, generally towardthe Southwest,in pursuitof KingCotton and the liveli- hood it promised.However, these population movements pale in StewartE. Tolnayis associateprofessor of sociologyat theState University of New Yorkat Albany.His previousresearch has been concentrated in thearea of historicaldemography, especially the history of Americanfertility patterns and change.Most recently,his workhas addressedracial violence in theAmerican Southduring the latter part of thenineteenth and theearly part of thetwentieth centuries. E. M. Beck is associateprofessor of sociologyat theUniversity of Georgia. His currentresearch focuses on racialviolence, discrimination, and economic changesin the whitelower class in theSouth. Recent articles on thesetopics haveappeared in Social Forcesand Law and SocietyReview. This researchwas partiallyfunded by grantsfrom the National Science Foun- dation(SES-8618123) and theUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation. The authorswish to thankCynthia Holiny, Linda Kelley,and JosephPark for their assistancein preparingthe lynching data used in this article. An abbreviatedver- sionof thisarticle was presentedat thenational symposium "Those Who Stayed Home duringthe Great Migration, 1915-Present," at JacksonState University, Jackson,Mississippi, 14-15 September1989. Social Science History14:3 (Fall 199o). Copyright? 199o by the Social Science HistoryAssociation. ccc oi45-5532/90/$1.50. This content downloaded from 159.178.22.27 on Fri, 01 Jan 2016 08:03:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 348 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY comparisonwith the massive migration of southern blacks during thefirst half of this century. Duringthe firstIo yearsof thetwentieth century, the South lost 170,oo000blacks through net migration. The levelof netout- migrationincreased substantially during the second decade to 450,000, and even furtherduring the 1920S to 750,000 (U.S. Bureauof theCensus 1975: 95). As a resultof thismovement, theblack population of the United States exhibited a substantially differentgeographic profile in 1930 thanit had at theturn of the century.Whereas 90% of all blacksresided in southernstates in 19oo, thatpercentage had droppedto 79 by 1930 (ibid.: 22- 23). In additionto theSouth-North relocation, blacks within the Southalso wereresidentially mobile. For instance, the percentage of southernblacks living in urbanplaces grew from 17 in 19oo to 33 by 1930, and muchof thisblack urbanization was due to migration. Threegeneral types of explanationshave been offered for the increasedmobility of southern blacks in the early part of this cen- tury:(I) thosethat stress underlying economic forces, including regionalwage differentialsand expansionof employmentoppor- tunitiesin the North; (2) thosethat stress underlying social forces, forexample, educational opportunities, racial violence, and voter disenfranchisement;and (3) thosethat focus on more"precipi- tating"causes, such as floodsor theboll weevilinfestation. The consensusof contemporaryobservers and moderninvestigators seemsto be thatthe precipitating causes combined with festering economicdissatisfaction to triggerthe black exodus, especially as employmentopportunities for blacks expanded in theNorth. Althoughfrequently mentioned, social factors,including racial violence,generally have been accordedsecondary status as a motivefor black migration. The objectiveof thisessay is to laythe groundwork for a more exhaustiveexamination of the role played by racial violence in the migrationof southern blacks after 1900oo. While this issue has been consideredpreviously (e.g., FligsteinI98I; Johnson1923), cer- tainweaknesses in data and conceptualization prevent those analy- ses frombeing definitive. Yet discussionsof theGreat Migration havetraditionally downplayed the role of racialviolence, assign- ingit either a secondaryrole or noneat all. We maintainthat this assumptionis prematureand warrantsmuch closer scrutiny. At This content downloaded from 159.178.22.27 on Fri, 01 Jan 2016 08:03:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LethalViolence and the Great Migration 349 the core of our objectiveare twoprimary aims: (I) to propose a conceptualframework that describes how racialviolence and black migrationwere linked, and (2) to raisethe possibility of a reciprocalrelationship between migration and racialviolence, thatis, thepossibility that violence induced migration, which in turnmoderated the level of violence. THE BLACK MIGRATION Blacks were not completestrangers to residentialmobility be- forethe turn of thecentury. Indeed, one of themost noticeable benefitsof emancipationwas thefreedman's ability to relocate. Between1870 and 19oo, manytook advantage of thisfreedom to moveto growingurban areas in theSouth, or evento leave the South(Donald 1921; Gottlieb1987). More common,how- ever,were short-distance moves within the rural South as landless farmerssought better remunerative arrangements with new land- lords (Daniel 1985; Jaynes1986; Mandle 1978; Novak 1978; Ransomand Sutch I977). While mostof theselocally migra- toryfarmers never ventured far from home, others relocated to southwesternstates, where cotton cultivation was expandingand opportunitieswere greater. Arkansas, Texas, and theOklahoma Territoryall experiencedconsiderable in-migration of blacks be- tween1870 and 19oo (U.S. Bureauof the Census 1975: 95). After19oo thepace of migrationaccelerated, and its charac- terwas transformed.Even as manyblacks continued to circulate withinthe rural South and to gravitatetoward urban areas within theSouth, more and more migrants began to make the longer trek northward.To illustratethe extent and variationof thepost-19oo migrationof blacks,the figures in Table I reportintercensal, net migrationfor the first three decades of thecentury (ibid.). Two groupsof statesare represented:four states of theCotton South and fournorthern industrial states that were popular destinations forblack migrants. All foursouthern states experienced net out- migrationof blacksbetween 19oo and 1930. Furthermore,the generaltrend was towardheavier out-migration as the period pro- gressed,especially for Georgia and South Carolina, two bulwarks of theCotton South. Conversely, the northern states experienced netin-migration during these decades, and the pace of migration quickenedover time. Although these crude figures are onlysug- This content downloaded from 159.178.22.27 on Fri, 01 Jan 2016 08:03:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 350 SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY TableI Blackpopulation changes in selected southern and northern states,1900-1930 Decade Region 1900oo-1910 1910-1920 1920-I930 CottonSouth SouthCarolina -72,000 -74,500 - 204,300 Georgia -16,2oo00 -74,700 - 260,000 Alabama -22, o00 -70,800 -80,700 Mississippi -30,900 - 129,6oo -68,8oo IndustrialNorth New York 35,800 63, 00oo 172,800 Pennsylvania 32,900 82,500 101o,700 Michigan I,9oo 38,700 86,1oo Illinois 23,500 69,800 I119,300 gestive,it is quiteapparent that this period was characterizedby a massiveregional relocation of the black population. If one looks closerat thosestates from which most of the black migrantscame, it becomesclear thatrates of black out- migrationwithin the South were not uniform. Some counties were characterizedby extremely high out-migration; others maintained relativelystable black populations. To illustratethis regional vari- ability,we haveestimated county-level black net migration rates (per Ioo population)for two Cotton South states that experienced veryheavy losses of blacks through migration, Georgia and South Carolina.Figure I has beenshaded according to therate of black out-migrationexperienced, between 1920 and 1930.' Clearly,the heaviest black out-migration occurred in a swath runningroughly through the middle of Georgiaand SouthCaro- lina. Interestingly,this area definesthe black belt as well as the area thathad been dominatedby a plantationcotton econ- omy (Mandle 1978). Such intrastatevariation raises interesting questionsabout the causes of the differentialmigration. Why were blacks
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