1901+to+1959


 * The Quest of Racial Equality for All Americans**
 * 1901-1959**

Racial Equality- Economic
During early 1900-1959 major progress was made for equality for African Americans. During 1900-1959 there weren't slaves, but African Americans still had many challenges and boundaries that held them back from succeeding. Also, during this time, Whites and Blacks didn't get along and the laws for racial equality made life better, but made many others madder.

The Blue areas show where people left from and the Blue lines show the ways they left. http://www.uic.edu/educ/bctpi/historyGIS/greatmigration/gmmaps.html

The Great Migration
[|The Great Migration] was a movement of African American from the South to North or West, beginning in 1910 and going to 1970-1980. During this time period the North's industries had a major boom of willing workers, looking for any kind of work. Although the workers were willing to do any kind of work the African Americans had a hard time getttng work that paid enough to support themselves and their families. One industry that had a mega boom was the housing market, the huge amount of people in the new cities needed housing. The homes that were built were high apartments that were small and in some cases poorly built. The homes were sometimes built by the people who would live in them.

Stayed in the South
For the people who stayed in South they faced many problems, people who tried no farm and work in factories or stores all faced massive amounts of problems. For those who tried to farm they faced so many problems. At the beginning it was hard to buy land, get equipment, and suppiles. Most people didn't want to sell land to African Americans or give them anything. After that the Boll weevil destroyed crops and caused most Africans Americans to become sharecroppers and tenant farmers which was very tough and it was much like being enslaved expect that they were free. The farmers in Mississippi and the surrounding areas were affected by the [|Great Mississippi Flood of 1927], which forced the moving of thousands of farmers and farm workers. This Flood was the worst river flood in history, it affected 7 states and killed 246 people. This is a picture of the worst flood in history, the flood forced thousands to move and it killed hundreds. The flood affected 7 states. The flood next to Katrina is the worst natural disaster in United States history. If you want you can go to http://odeo.com/audio/297170/view and listen to songs about this flood.

The people who found work in stores or factories faced even more problems. First off the workers were paid a fraction of what white workers were paid and worked more hours than them. The Black workers did jobs that the White workers didn't want to do and they also had a segregated work place. Fortunately there was some help there were some labor laws that helped Blacks some, in a few industries. For example, The RailRoad Act of 1926 was a federal law that made it legal for the railroad unions to operate.

War I and II
During the World Wars hundreds of thousands of jobs opened up for Blacks.The jobs that opened up were for men factories and for women in the service industry. The workers who didn't go to the war moved up to factories or higher paying jobs. As immigration from Europe was cut off new jobs opened up and gave job to Blacks. The women cleaned and cooked for people who hired them, this was very close to being enslaved except that they were barely paid. The Black men and White workers worked to make supplies for the wars. The wars also opened up the opportunity for Blacks to gain full citizenship. In most places the work places were segregated, but in shipyards the work could not be. The work was around the clock to turn out ships as quick as possible. [|**www.nps.gov/.../ africanamericanhistory.htm**]