The Great Migration and Education

Abstract

At the turn of the century, World War I created a demand for a labor work force. Labor recruiters looked to the South for a worker class desperate to escape the Jim Crow laws of the South. Between 1910 and 1970, millions of African Americans left their homes in the South. Historians refer to this movement as the Great Migration. Although these migrants welcomed a new beginning, they could not escape segregation, especially in the school systems. This research paper documents the fight for equality in education leading up to the Brown v Board of Education of 1954 decision and its aftermath. Documenting the journey of a group of education majors recruited from Tennessee, it exposes the inequities that existed in education and the fight to destroy segregation. Future research will involve compiling data to determine the impact of the movement on this community and other communities at large. Further research will be conducted to determine if the Brown decision eliminated segregation.